Linking Brand Equity to Customer Equity

equity and brand equity are two of the most important topics to academic researchers and practition-ers. As part of the 2005 Thought Leaders Conference held at the University of Connecticut, the authors were asked to review what was known and not known about the relationship between brand equity and customer equity. During their discussions, it became clear that whereas two distinct research streams have emerged and there are distinct differences, the concepts are also highly related. It also became clear that whereas the focus of both brand equity and customer equity research has been on the end consumer, there is a need for research to understand the intermediary’s perspective (e.g., the value of the brand to the retailer and the value of a customer to a retailer) and the consumer’s perspective (e.g., the value of the brand versus the value of the retailer). This article represents general conclusions from the authors ’ discussion and suggests a modeling approach that could be used to investigate linkages between brand equity and customer equity as well as a modeling approach to determine the value of the manufacturer to a retailer

Monitoring international migration flows in Europe. Towards a statistical data base combining data from different sources

The paper reviews techniques developed in demography, geography and statistics that are useful for bridging the gap between available data on international migration flows and the information required for policy making and research. The basic idea of the paper is as follows: to establish a coherent and consistent data base that contains sufficiently detailed, up-to-date and accurate information, data from several sources should be combined. That raises issues of definition and measurement, and of how to combine data from different origins properly. The issues may be tackled more easily if the statistics that are being compiled are viewed as different outcomes or manifestations of underlying stochastic processes governing migration. The link between the processes and their outcomes is described by models, the parameters of which must be estimated from the available data. That may be done within the context of socio-demographic accounting. The paper discusses the experience of the U.S. Bureau of the Census in combining migration data from several sources. It also summarizes the many efforts in Europe to establish a coherent and consistent data base on international migration. The paper was written at IIASA. It is part of the Migration Estimation Study, which is a collaborative IIASA-University of Groningen project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The project aims at developing techniques to obtain improved estimates of international migration flows by country of origin and country of destination

The impact of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability

We study the effects of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability in a business-to-business setting. Using data from a company providing hygiene services, we look at the impact of a hitherto unstudied type of expense targeted at individual customer relationships: the offering of free equipment to customers. The data allow tracking the activities performed in more than 4,500 customer relationships over a period of 4 years. Retention rates are higher for customers targeted with free equipment, but this effect results from an interaction with customer size. First-order dynamic panel data analyses show that the impact of targeted marketing expenses on customer dollar profit is positive for large customers, but there is no effect for smaller customers. Thus, targeted marketing expenses seem to be a tool for relationship maintenance rather than customer development: they help in retaining large customers that generate more profit, but they do not seem to work in developing new customers into larger, more profitable ones

An ontology for strongly sustainable business models: Defining an enterprise framework compatible with natural and social science

Business is increasingly employing sustainability practices, aiming to improve environmental and social responsibility while maintaining and improving profitability. For many organizations, profit-oriented business models are a major constraint impeding progress in sustainability. A formally defined ontology, a model definition, for profit-oriented business models has been employed globally for several years. However, no equivalent ontology is available in research or practice that enables the description of strongly sustainable business models, as validated by ecological economics and derived from natural, social, and system sciences. We present a framework of strongly sustainable business model propositions and principles as findings from a transdisciplinary review of the literature. A comparative analysis was performed between the framework and the Osterwalder profit-oriented ontology for business models. We introduce an ontology that enables the description of successful strongly sustainable business models that resolves weaknesses and includes functionally necessary relationships

A Belief System's Organization Based on a Computational Model of the Dynamic Context: First Approximation

In this article we present a model of organization of a belief system based on a set of binary recursive functions that characterize the dynamic context that modifies the beliefs. The initial beliefs are modeled by a set of two-bit words that grow, update, and generate other beliefs as the different experiences of the dynamic context appear. Reason is presented as an emergent effect of the experience on the beliefs. The system presents a layered structure that allows a functional organization of the belief system. Our approach seems suitable to model different ways of thinking and to apply to different realistic scenarios such as ideologies

The diffusion of a new service: Combining service consideration and brand choice

We propose an individual-level model of a two-stage service diffusion process. In the first stage, customers decide whether to "consider" joining the service. This (Consideration) stage is modeled by a hazard model. Customers who decide to consider the service move on to the Choice stage, wherein they choose among the service alternatives and an outside No Choice option. This stage is modeled by a conditional Multinomial Logit model. The service provider does not observe the transition in the first stage of potential customers who have yet to choose a brand. Such potential customers may have started to consider joining the service, yet chose the outside alternative in each period thereafter. One of the main contributions of the model is its ability to distinguish between these two non-adopter types. We estimated the model using data on the adoption process of newly introduced service plans offered by a commercial bank. We employed the hierarchical Bayes Monte Carlo Markov Chain procedure to estimate individual as well as population parameters. The empirical results indicate that the model outperforms competing models in breadth of analysis, model fit, and prediction accuracy

Somewhat united: primary stakeholder perspectives of the governance of schoolboy football in Ireland

Despite an independent report on the governance and organisational practices of football in Ireland, the National Governing Body continues to face criticism in relation to stakeholder management and communication. As positive outcomes in non-profit organisations are associated with quality relationships between organisations, the purpose of this article is to explore primary stakeholder perspectives of the governance of schoolboy football in the Republic of Ireland. The research questions to be addressed are: do tensions exist between stakeholders and does the FAI display effective governance behaviours in relation to its primary stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven stakeholders from the football governance system. A lack of congruence across the system was identified, which resulted from ineffective stakeholder management (poor communication practices, perceptions of inaccurate disclosures, perceived lack of inclusion in decision-making, perceptions of organisational injustice, confusion over role clarity and responsibilities). Managing the quality of the relationships with diverse stakeholders within a sport governance system is key for strategic policy formation and implementation, yet this remains a challenging and multi-faceted concept. © 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group