Is ownership of brands passe? A new model of temporary usage for durable goods

Purpose The trend toward subscription economy accelerated the rise of access-based consumption models for durable consumer goods, replacing individual ownership with subscription contracts. At the same time, disruptive platform businesses have arisen in several consumer markets, bypassing traditional value chains while growing through network effects. In a conceptual approach, the authors address the future market for durable consumer goods in light of developments toward access-based consumption, subscription models and platform business models. Design/methodology/approach In a conceptual approach, the authors apply a scenario analysis following the Framework Foresight method and address trends, constants, plans and projections shaping the future market of subscriptions for durable goods. The authors create a baseline scenario and two alternative scenarios for the future of consumer durables and thereby discuss platform growth stages and implications for manufacturer brands. Findings The rising market power of platform companies leads to a baseline scenario where these platforms enter the market of subscriptions for durable goods. Alternative scenario 1 addresses the successful market entry of new platform businesses. In contrast, alternative scenario 2 describes the rise of manufacturer brand platforms. Originality/value This conceptual research enriches the discussion of access-based business models by creating scenarios depicting possible future developments. Moreover, it adds to the increasing focus on platform business models and thereby addresses the role of traditional manufacturer brands in markets for durable consumer goods subscriptions

Does educating customers create positive word of mouth?

This research theorizes and empirically examines whether and how educating customers—a brand's efforts to enhance customers' product-related knowledge—affects customer word of mouth (WOM). In two lab experiments across service and retailing contexts, we find that educating customers enhances customers' positive WOM for a brand. Customer satisfaction and perceived expertise mediate this effect. Critically, the positive impact on WOM is stronger for customers who have less prior knowledge regarding the educational topic and are more amenable to knowledge sharing. The current findings add to the literature on customer education and WOM and offer managerial insights for improving brands' WOM campaigns

Strategic management of product and brand extensions: Extending corporate brands in B2B vs. B2C markets

Decisions about expanding an existing product portfolio and capturing new markets are of critical importance to a firm's financial performance and growth. Yet, important questions remain in regard to the extent to which product and brand extensions contribute to a firm's profit in B2B and B2C markets, respectively, and how firms with corporate brands in these markets should pursue an extension strategy that provides maximum impact on firm profit. The authors theorize and empirically address these questions based on a study of firms listed in the U.S. Fortune 500 published ranking. Findings of this research have important prescriptive implications for the management of B2B and B2C firms' growth-based extension strategy and contribute to B2B theory

Why do customers want to learn? antecedents and outcomes of customer learning

Purpose – Customers often want to learn about a product/service, and companies can benefit from such a learning desire. While prior research has shed light on firm-beneficial outcomes of individual customer learning and explored the motivational factors of business partners’ learning behavior, less is known about the critical antecedents of individual customers’ learning behavior. This study explored the key drivers of customers’ learning desires in a business-to-consumer (B2C) context and identified customers with a stronger learning desire. Design/methodology/approach – This research employed both a lab experiment (Study 1, N = 148) and surveys (Study 2, N = 553; Study 3, N = 703) across different participant populations and product contexts. Findings – This study indicated that both involvement and knowledge-sharing intention drove customer learning desire. Customer expertise further strengthened these main effects. Moreover, a stronger learning desire led to greater customer satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – This study identified key factors involved in customer learning desire and its potential benefits for companies. Additional research to investigate customer learning in specific environments and forms and regarding specific brands is warranted. Practical implications – This study emphasizes the importance of supporting customer learning and encourages businesses to manage customer learning proactively. It also provides suggestions for effective learning support for targeted customer groups. Originality/value – This study contributes to the customer learning literature by exploring key influencing factors of individual customer learning desire, based on self-determination theory. It also identified the role of customer expertise in shaping customers’ learning 2 processes. Moreover, this study examined customer learning as a novel way to enhance customer satisfaction

User experience of video‑on‑demand applications for smart TVs : a case study

The convergence of internet and TV and its consequences on TV producers as well as TV users has been a highly discussed topic over the past few years. With the rapid growth of high-speed broadband connections and the development of high-performance TVs, the foundation for the creation and proliferation of smarter TVs enabling the user with a more personalized viewing experience was laid. As a consequence, new business opportunities have opened up and new players have entered the market. Facing a rapidly changing environment with hardly any standards established yet, the consideration of customer satisfaction and user experience plays a major role. Especially in the entertainment industry, user experience is of high relevance and user-centered design an important precondition for service adoption. Therefore, the case study below investigated success factors and barriers which influence usage of a video-on-demand application for smart TVs. Based on a case study of a European video-on-demand service different usability evaluation methods had been applied and combined in order to evaluate and enhance platform performance