Brand champion behaviour: Its role in corporate branding

yesBrand champions are responsible for encouraging employee commitment to the corporate brand strategy. They strongly believe in and identify with the brand concept—the company’s selected brand meaning, which underpins corporate brand strategy implementation. We conducted research to explore why and how brand champion behaviour operates within companies implementing a new corporate brand strategy. Against a backdrop of growing interest in brand champion behaviour in corporate branding research, we grounded our study in social identity theory and rhetorical theory from change management literature. Our findings show that articulating a compelling brand vision, taking responsibility, and getting the right people involved are the most widely used strategies by brand champions. We uncover how rhetorical strategies within brand champion behaviour generate employee commitment to a new corporate brand strategy. The dimension of brand champion behaviour that is effective depends on the type of brand evolution, involving shifts in the brand concept. We make suggestions for further studies underpinned by social identity theory and rhetorical theory to investigate brand champion behaviour processes within companies introducing a new corporate brand strategy

MANAGING E-FINANCE AS A CHALLENGE TO THE MACEDONIAN AND RUSSIAN ECONOMY

The financial system exists as a separate part made up of institutions and instruments whose operation is taking place in the financial market. Currently there are mundane processes that are beyond the financial system, but are conditioned or sustain it. It is that these processes affect the financial system. Financial environment influences the competitiveness of financial institutions, causing the creation or development of modern approaches. These modern approaches to financial institutions caused a certain evolution in the functioning of financial markets. Especially the development of information technology is a growing share of electronic commerce on the one hand and on the other hand causes the existence of new methods of operations of financial institutions. These modern methods institution aims to: approaching of first (faster) access to consumer and market leadership. Above stated challenges for any economy, this paper provides an answer to where and how to develop the Russian and Macedonian economy in terms of e-banking in the financial sector. For this purpose were used methods of analysis, synthesis, processing quantitative data etc

STRATEGIC FACTORS OF BRAND EQUITY

The search for a universal formula for brand equity management, especially in conditions which lead the company towards choosing a strategy to compete in the international market can be summed up in one sentence – per aspera, ad astra (through the thorns, to the stars). The main subject of this paper is the analysis of the models that synthesize the key factors that define the successful expansion of the brand into new markets. There is no doubt that it is quite difficult to synthesize a model which would be suitable for any company, because companies are too different, even within the same industry, and even more in different sectors and in different markets. However, the analysis of the contemporary scientific thought in the field of strategic management of brand equity synthesizes ten so-called strategic factors that determine the relationships with the brand equity. The aim of the research is to determine the extent to which companies implement the ten strategic factors of brand equity and then to assess the benefits of the application of the model. The research results confirm that in order to maximize the positive effect of these factors, the support from top management is crucial (where from the implementation needs to start) and, also, to nurture the approach of continuous improvement

Dynamical effects on the O(3P) + D2 reaction and its impact on the Λ-doublet population

11 pags., 9 figs. -- This article is part of the themed collection: Molecular Dynamics in the Gas PhaseThe O(P) + D → OD(Π) + D reaction presents the peculiarity of taking place on two different potential energy surfaces (PESs) of different symmetry, A′ and A′′, which become degenerate for collinear configurations where the saddle-point of the reaction is located. The degeneracy is broken for non-collinear approaches with the energy on the A′ PES rising more abruptly with the bending angle, making the frequency of this mode higher on the A′ state. Consequently, the A′ PES should be less reactive than the A′′ one. Nevertheless, quantum scattering calculations show that the cross section is higher on the A′ PES for energies close to the classical reaction threshold and rotationless reactant. It is found that the differences between the reactivity on the two PESs are greater for low values of total angular momentum, where the centrifugal barrier is lower and contribute to the higher population of the Π(A′) Λ-doublet states of OD at low collision energies. At high collision energies, the Π(A′) Λ-doublet state is also preferentially populated. Analysis of the differential cross sections reveals that the preponderance for the Π(A′) Λ-doublet at low energies comes from backward scattering, originating from the reaction on the A′ PES, while at high energies, it proceeds from a different mechanism that leads to sideways scattering on the A′′ PES and that populates the Π(A′) manifold.The authors gratefully acknowledge grant PID2020-113147GA-I00, PID2021-122839NB-I00, PID2019-107115GB-C21 and PID2021-122549NB-C21 funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)

On fractional systems with Riemann-Liouville derivatives and distributed delays – Choice of initial conditions, existence and uniqueness of the solutions

A comparative analysis among the possible types of initial conditions including (or not) derivatives in the Riemann-Liouville sense for incommensurate fractional differential systems with distributed delays is proposed. The provided analysis is essentially based on the possibility to attribute physical meaning to the initial conditions expressed in terms of Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives. This allows the values of the initial functions for the mentioned initial conditions to be obtained by appropriate measurements or observations. In addition, an initial problem with non-continuous initial conditions partially expressed in terms of Riemann-Liouville fractional derivatives is considered and existence and uniqueness of a (1 − α)-continuous solution of this initial problem is proved

Quantum study of reaction O (

The reaction between atomic oxygen and molecular hydrogen is an important one in astrochemistry as it regulates the abundance of the hydroxyl radical and serves to open the chemistry of oxygen in diverse astronomical environments. However, the existence of a high activation barrier in the reaction with ground-state oxygen atoms limits its efficiency in cold gas. In this study we calculated the dependence of the reaction rate coefficient on the rotational and vibrational state of H2, and evaluated the impact on the abundance of OH in interstellar regions strongly irradiated by far-UV photons where H2 can be efficiently pumped to excited vibrational states. We used a recently calculated potential energy surface and carried out time-independent quantum mechanical scattering calculations to compute rate coefficients for the reaction O (3P) + H2 (v, j) → OH + H, with H2 in vibrational states v = 0–7 and rotational states j = 0–10. We find that the reaction becomes significantly faster with increasing vibrational quantum number of H2. However, even for high vibrational states of H2 (v = 4–5), for which the reaction is barrierless, the rate coefficient does not strictly attain the collision limit and still maintains a positive dependence with temperature. We implemented the calculated state-specific rate coefficients in the Meudon PDR code to model the Orion Bar PDR and to evaluate the impact on the abundance of the OH radical. We find the fractional abundance of OH is enhanced by up to one order of magnitude in regions of the cloud corresponding to AV = 1.3–2.3 mag, compared to the use of a thermal rate coefficient for O + H2, although the impact on the column density of OH is modest, about 60%. The calculated rate coefficients will be useful to model and interpret JWST observations of OH in strongly UV-illuminated environments

Quantum study of reaction O (3P) + H2(v,j) → OH + H: OH formation in strongly UV-irradiated gas

13 pags., 3 figs., 1 tab.The reaction between atomic oxygen and molecular hydrogen is an important one in astrochemistry as it regulates the abundance of the hydroxyl radical and serves to open the chemistry of oxygen in diverse astronomical environments. However, the existence of a high activation barrier in the reaction with ground-state oxygen atoms limits its efficiency in cold gas. In this study we calculated the dependence of the reaction rate coefficient on the rotational and vibrational state of H2, and evaluated the impact on the abundance of OH in interstellar regions strongly irradiated by far-UV photons where H2 can be efficiently pumped to excited vibrational states. We used a recently calculated potential energy surface and carried out time-independent quantum mechanical scattering calculations to compute rate coefficients for the reaction O (3P) + H2 (v, j) → OH + H, with H2 in vibrational states v = 0-7 and rotational states j = 0-10. We find that the reaction becomes significantly faster with increasing vibrational quantum number of H2. However, even for high vibrational states of H2 (v = 4-5), for which the reaction is barrierless, the rate coefficient does not strictly attain the collision limit and still maintains a positive dependence with temperature. We implemented the calculated state-specific rate coefficients in the Meudon PDR code to model the Orion Bar PDR and to evaluate the impact on the abundance of the OH radical. We find the fractional abundance of OH is enhanced by up to one order of magnitude in regions of the cloud corresponding to AV = 1.3-2.3 mag, compared to the use of a thermal rate coefficient for O + H2, although the impact on the column density of OH is modest, about 60%. The calculated rate coefficients will be useful to model and interpret JWST observations of OH in strongly UV-illuminated environments.We acknowledge the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for funding support through the projects AYA2016-75066-C2-1-P, FIS2017-83473-C2, PGC2018-096444-B-I00, PID2019-106110GB-I00, and PID2019-107115GB-C21. A.V. and P.G.J. acknowledge funding by Fundación Salamanca City of Culture and Knowledge (programme for attracting scientific talent to Salamanca). M.A. also acknowledges funding support from the Ramón y Cajal programme of Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant RyC-2014-16277)