Dancing with Macro-Boycotters: The Case of Arla Foods

Purpose: Consumer boycotting is on the increase for various reasons. Macro-boycotting campaigns, against one or more countries and their companies rather than a specific single company, have had devastating effects on companies. Thus, learning from the way in which Arla Foods has combated such a ferocious campaign is useful for companies that are facing similar campaigns and would help in developing a successful marketing strategy during and after boycotting campaigns. Design/methodology/approach: Secondary data were collected through various sources. Importantly, primary data were collected using interviews with senior managers at Arla Foods and a survey of 254 customers in Saudi Arabia. Findings: The come-back strategy developed and used by Arla Foods has had a good and positive impact and has helped the company to regain most of the market share it lost at the beginning of the boycotting campaign. Several steps were developed to combat the boycotting and regain the market. Originality/value: The unique position of Arla Foods during the boycotting campaign, which was unprecedented, creates a new challenge which requires new thinking of how to combat such severe and sudden change in the market conditions. Thus, as the frequency of boycotting is on the increase, the case study outlined a number of steps which can be adopted by other international companies

The Influence of Religiously Motivated Consumer Boycotts on Brand Image, Loyalty and Product Judgment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to examine the in!uence of religiously motivated boycotts, such as the one conducted in Saudi Arabia against Danish companies, on corporate brand image, customer loyalty and product judgment. Despite a growing research interest in understanding the effects of different types of consumer animosities on companies’ performance, there appears to be a scarcity of studies addressing the speci"c effects of religious animosity. Religious animosity is considered as an additional type which may have more stable and longer-term impacts than other animosities on behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – The study was based on a two-stage design: an exploratory qualitative stage involving 11 in-depth interviews, followed by a more comprehensive quantitative stage designed to test a proposed theoretical model. Data was collected from Saudi customers of the Danish company Arla Foods in Saudi Arabia. Data was analysed using structural equation model (LISREL 8). Findings – The model con"rms that boycotting have strong negative impact on brand image and consumer loyalty but does not in!uence consumers’ product judgment. Practical implications – Religious boycotts have signi"cant consequences on both corporate pro"ts and brand image. The study provides clear steps for companies to combat the in!uence of religious boycotts especially in relation to brand image and customer loyalty. Originality/value – The study tested the in!uence of consumer religious boycotts on brand image and customer loyalty. Religious animosity was found to cause a more persistent boycott that negatively impacts brand image and weakens customer loyalty. However, by and large, boycotting was found not to have any signi"cant impact on product judgment

Do Immigration and Social Media Facilitate or Inhibit Cognitive Acculturation? The Role of Individual Dialecticism in Dual-Focused Cultural Stimuli Evaluation

Social media and immigration influence individuals' acculturation experiences. Studies that compare the influences of immigration-based versus social media-based acculturation on cognition are limited. By focusing on acculturalization in Chinese individuals (migrant versus social media users) and through two studies, this research examines whether two types of acculturation experience have different degrees of impact on Chinese individuals' dialectical thinking– the tendency to tolerate contradictions – in predicting the evaluation of dual cultural stimuli. Both studies collected data using experiments on participants in China and the United Kingdom. Study 1 shows that low dialectical Chinese, who acculturated as a result of immigration, exhibit better attitudes toward the dual cultural stimuli than their high dialectical Chinese counterparts. Individuals who acculturated as a result of social media (technology-based communication) show no differences in their attitudes toward the dual cultural stimuli on the basis of dialecticism. Study 2 shows that dialecticism can be primed through the language used in the stimuli, with Chinese individuals who acculturated as a result of immigration reporting higher dialecticism and lower evaluations for dual cultural stimuli. The switching effects of individual dialecticism were not evidenced within the social media-based acculturation group. Implications and future research are discussed

The Formation of Trust and Commitment in Business Relationships in the Middle East: Understanding Et-Moone Relationships

In recent years, different forms of relationships that are culturally bond have emerged such as; ‘Guanxi’ in China (Yau, Lee, Chow, Sing, and Tse, 2000; Lou, 2007; Liu, Li, Tao and Wang, 2008), ‘Blat’ in Russia (Michailova and Worm, 2003) and ‘Boon Koon’ in Thailand (Pimpa, 2008). While these special forms of relationships are culturally bond, studies have also suggested that the development of a business relationship is directly linked to the development of trust and commitment (Wilson, 1995). Considering that these forms are culturally bond, studies from the Middle East on the formation of trust and commitment within relationship development are largely absent. We argue that understanding the dynamic formation of trust and commitment will help to better understand Et-Moone business relationships within the specific cultural context of the Middle East. Thus, this study combines the insights from the theory of life-cycle (Ford, 1980; Dwyer et al., 1987) and the theory of trust and commitment by Morgan and Hunt (1994) to understand business relationships in the Middle East. Based on qualitative research using a longitudinal approach and 33 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in 2003, this study finds the relationship between trust and commitment to be far more dynamic and changeable as the relationship evolves. Also, it finds that trust and commitment are major factors in establishing Et-Moone relationships

The Mystique of Customers’ Saturation in Online Brand Communities

Most research studies in the area of online brand communities have largely studied the positive aspects of online brand communities, ignoring the negative influences, mainly the growing threat from customers’ saturation within these communities. Given the lack of understanding on the concept of customer saturation in online brand communities, this study establishes the necessary early understanding on this important concept by combining various streams of marketing and brand literature as well as information system. This study enhances understanding through the development of five propositions focusing on the role of customers’ saturation on (1) customers’ experience within online brand communities, (2) brand relationship, and (3) the co‐creation of value. The discussion and review of the current literature produces five important propositions. The propositions develop the direction that customer saturation in online brand communities is likely to impact three key areas

The Antecedents and Consequence of Et-Moone B2B Relationships

The literature from Eastern countries has well recognised the importance and influence of culturally specific constructs on business-to-business (B2B) relationships. With much of the literature largely focused on the Chinese Guanxi and its role in developing and maintaining B2B, the expansion of B2B literature to other parts of the world has been limited. One important area of massive economic growth and influence is the Gulf region. Studies on B2B within the Gulf region are scarce. Over the last decade, exploratory studies on the Et-Moone relationships in the Gulf region identified significant impact on B2B relationships. Thus this paper builds up on recent exploratory studies on Et-Moone relationships. The paper examines the antecedents (interpersonal liking, trust and commitment) and consequence (cooperation) of Et-Moone relationships. Survey data were collected from over 180 senior managers in Saudi Arabia. The findings confirm the importance of Et-Moone in B2B relationships and its impact on cooperation. Implications for managers are discussed, and a guide for future research is provided

All in the Value: The Impact of Brand and Social Network Relationships on the Perceived Value of Customer Endorsed Facebook Advertising

Purpose: Social advertising featuring endorsed brands has significantly grown in the past few years. Companies and social networking sites (SNSs) are hailing such types of advertising as being more credible to users as they feature their friends’ indirect endorsements; however, the issue of friends’ likability alongside the users’ relationships with the actual SNS is seldom considered with regard to any potential negative/positive effects they might have on brands’ relationships and the perceived value of advertising within SNSs. Methodology: Taking a customer-centric approach and based on the social information processing theory, this study investigates the influence of friends’ likability and similarity, and users’ relationships with the SNS (Facebook) on brands’ relationships and advertising value using a web-based survey. The total number of responses included in the analysis is 305. The data was analysed using SEM and LISREL 8.8. Findings: The findings show that the overall user experience on Facebook is based on three key areas: socializing with friends, the relationship with the social network itself, and the relationship with the advertised brands. These contribute to the perceived value of customer endorsed Facebook advertising. Implications: The study discusses various significant implications for online platforms, brands and the success of online advertising within social network sites. Originality: This study contributes to the existing literature by making the link between users’ experiences/friendships within SNSs, their relationships with the SNS (FB) itself, and their relationships with the advertised brand, and examines how these three combined relationships impact the perceived value of the ads by users of FB

The Mystique of Customers’ Saturation Behaviour in Online Brand Communities

No time in the history, consumption is considered to be as important as in today's world. It defines who we are, how well/perfect we perform our multiroles within the society (buying the most expensive clothes means being the best mom for instances), what symbolic meanings we attribute to our belongings, and how rich/clever/fashion conscious or innovative we are. Due to multidisciplinary and multimethod character of the concept of consumer behavior, it is appropriate to study it accordingly in order to understand the subject with its different aspects and holistically. Especially with the cultural, social, and technological changes within today's world, this issue becomes prominent. This book is a modest try for that end

Analysing the preferred characteristics of frontline employees dealing with customer complaints: A cross‐national Kano study

Recent research in customer satisfaction suggests that attributes of products and services can be classified into three categories, must-be factors, one-dimensional factors and excitement factors, which all affect customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. These originate from Kano’s model (1984) that allows researchers to gain a deeper understanding of customer preferences by analysing how they evaluate and perceive product or service attributes. This paper uses the Kano model to gain a deeper understanding of attributes of effective frontline employees dealing with customer complainants in personal interactions. For products such as the TV remote control, Kano (2001; 2006) showed that excitement factors deteriorate to must-be factors over time. This research investigates whether the same phenomenon holds true for attributes of service employees. Data were collected from 197 respondents with complaining experience in the UK and Saudi Arabia, these being two countries at different stages of service sector development and the analysis of the Kano maps reveal significant differences between the two countries