Marketing

One of the most cited concepts in marketing literature is customer loyalty. many researchers have investigated different aspects of this concept and there is a rich marketing literature in influential factors on customers loyalty. the aim of this study is to probe a new dimension of this concept and to see the effect of relationship marketing on it.This research assesses impact of relationship marketing strategies including commitment, trust, communications, and conflict management on the loyalty of Bank Keshavarzi and Saman Bank’s customers. Research methodology, in terms of research purpose, is of applied type, and in terms of data gathering, of descriptive-survey type. Statistical population of this research includes 260 customers of the private bank Saman Bank and the state-owned bank Bank Keshavarzi within the city of Tehran. The sample, using random sampling methods, was selected. The constituents were prepared based on Likert’s 5-optional Scale. The constituents’ validity was calculated based on content validity and its reliability was calculated based on Cronbach Alpha, and the data were analyzed using T-test. Research results indicate a direct and significant relationship of commitment, trust, communication, and conflict management with customers’ loyalty in the both banks (p < 0.000). In addition, the research findings suggest that the variable communications with both banks is ranked in the first place and is of a high importance, and in the state banks, the variables conflict management, commitment and trust are respectively ranked next. In the private bank Saman Bank, the variables affecting customers’ loyalty are prioritized as follows: communication, commitment, conflict management, and trust.

The objective of this paper is to propose a framework on the Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) practices among banks. The conceptual framework is design based on two marketing theories: (i) Relationship Marketing Theory; and (ii) Customer Relationship Management Theory. In this study, the concept of CRM is based on six important dimensions. These dimensions are (i) customer acquisition, (ii) customer response, (iii) customer knowledge, (iv) customer information system, (v) customer value evaluation and (vi) customer information process. Review of the past literatures will be done to enable us to establish the theory and finally propose the conceptual framework to be used in this study.

The purpose of writing the current paper is to formulate and rank strategies of Tehran Gas Company – one of the most powerful ones in Iran- by 2 different techniques: QSPM and fuzzy TOPSIS. After designing SWOT matrix and formulating 18 strategies, QSPM and fuzzy TOPSIS techniques were applied to rank strategies. The results of utilizing both techniques show that “Observing environmental, social and economical by employees’ training”, “Applying new technologies and utilization expert human resources to upgrade assessment and evaluation systems” and “Establishment affective customer relationship systems and projects timely execution to enhance liquidity and decrease the effect of inflation and sanctions” were selected as the most important ones but in different order. Finally by applying SAW technique two applied techniques were comprised in which showed fuzzy TOPSIS technique obtains better and more credible results.

Leveraging social media advantageously in marketing is one of the important innovative strategies that has made it easier for business managers to enhance consumers engagement and exploit purchase intentions. The lack of social media marketing (SMM) strategies to engage consumers has generally impeded small business manager effectiveness (SBMs) to compete and increase sales. SBMs and owners who fail to reach, engage consumers, increase sales, and remain competitive in the market are at a higher risk of failure. Rooted in the theory of diffusion of innovation (DOI), the purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies that SBMs use to develop and effectively implement SMM strategies to improve consumers' engagement. The specific study population comprised six business managers of six successful small businesses in Maryland who effectively used social media marketing strategies to engage consumers for at least 5 years. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and a review of the companies’ documents. A thematic assessment grounded in DOI helped in identifying the major theme of content design and engineering. SBMs might benefit from this study's findings by increasing their knowledge of the SMM strategies that are most beneficial in developing consumers' desired SMM content, selecting the very appropriate social media platforms, and developing highly effective customer reach and engagement strategies. The implications for positive social change could include the potential for business leaders to increase business success, which bodes well for increased social and community welfare and prosperity.

The purposes of this research were to study the influence of social media on customer’s perception, case study PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) in order to measure the performance and propose the development approach. The sample were 400 customers living in major provinces around Thailand, aged over 18 years old and used social media in daily basis. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were conducted. For quantitative method, data was collected by simple random sampling through questionnaires. Frequency, percentage and chi-square test were applied as statistical analysis tools. Statistical significance levels were set at .01 and .05. For Qualitative method, both in-depth interview and content analysis of online news about PTT were conducted by descriptive method. The study indicated that PTT's social media had the potential to provide relatively positive information at a moderately high level. This was good for the image and business. (products and services) of PTT both In terms of public relations and clarification. As for the suggestions for improvement included: 1. It was new media that did not cover all users. Therefore, it should be used in conjunction with traditional media. 2. It should be organized collected and integrated to be convenient to use. 3. There should be strategies to present it in a timely manner and be able to create a sense of togetherness. And 4. There should be a good content creation process to increase the positive impact and reduce the negative impact in order to enhance the customers to get good value from PTT.

Internal Marketing (IM) by definition distinguished between an organization and its environment and focuses only on intra organizational affaires. However, globalization and a knowledge-driven environment have produced a global networked economy with blurred boundaries between global companies and their requirements. This research assumed its paramount important in being a maiden attempt to unearth the nuances, antecedents, factors and consequences of ‘Internal Marketing strategy for competitive advantage’. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector is the growth engine of Indian economy. Present research in order to investigate factors internal marketing behaviors internal customers (Employees) in private motor pump industries, domestic marketing as the reason for confidence-building, job satisfaction and loyalty of employees examine and test. The research questionnaire of literature and research questionnaire derived from the standard. This study reveals that the pump manufacturing units of the city has adopted a systematic global marketing strategy and follows uninterrupted logistic and supply chain system. This study also highlights certain marketing issues which are related to pump manufacturing units. The research indicates: Internal marketing and the trust managers, job satisfaction and loyalty internal customers’ positive relationship and meaningful.

Customer Value is a topic of growing interest to managers and researchers in business marketing. Traditionally, research on Value in business markets have been oriented towards the assessment of how suppliers create value for their customers and how customers perceive superior value in a suppliers offering compared to competition (the buyers perspective) Anderson & Narus (1999), Ulaga and chacour (2001). In recent years both academics and managers have increasingly emphasized the need to consider customers as a key asset of the firm Rust & Lemon (2000).

The Indian retail sector is going through a transformation and this emerging market is witnessing a significant change in its growth and investment pattern. Both existing and new players are experimenting with new retail formats. The growth and potential of the sector is being widely acknowledged both in the domestic as well as international forums. India topped AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index 2009 for the third consecutive year, retaining its position in the global market as the most preferred retail destination amongst emerging markets. Consumer dynamics in India is changing and the retailers need to take note of this and formulate their strategies and tactics to deliver value to the consumer. This paper investigates impact of emergence of modern retail formats on Indian consumers in organized and unorganized sector.

Globalization has caused dramatic changes to business practices around the world. Globalization is an interesting phenomenon since it is obvious that the world has been going through this process of change towards increasing economic, financial, social, cultural, political, market, and environmental interdependence among nations. Virtually, everyone is affected by this process because globalization brings about a borderless world. This study investigated how sustainable global market uncertainty, global market opportunities and global competitive threat affect the performance of bankers in Nigeria which can lead to a competitive advantage and an enhancement of industrial development that can bring about global partnership for development which is one of the pivotal goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Subjects for this study were three hundred and one bankers in Lagos, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were tested and the findings of the study revealed that that there was a significant relationship between performance of operators and global market opportunities. The result also revealed that global market uncertainty, global market opportunities and global competitive threat significantly jointly predicted performance of operators. Conclusively, the findings from this study support the argument that globalization not only benefits firms in terms of increasing opportunities, but also hurts business performance due to higher competitive threats. This study also confirms that globalization is a universal phenomenon and that firms are inevitably affected either positively or negatively. While global market opportunities are likely to enhance firm performance, global competitive threats tend to worsen it. Therefore, managers must be aware of such double-edged effects, and try to capitalize on opportunities while converting threats into opportunities. Appropriate strategies, such as developing networking relationships with other firms, must be carefully designed and implemented in order to take advantage of global market opportunities and minimize the threats from increasing competitive intensity.

In recent decades, the rate of new product development increased due to the burst of competition between organizations in developing new products, services and new markets. In such a competitive condition, the main challenge of organizations is to develop new products according to the goals of the organization and needs of customers. Therefore, this study tries to propose success factors in new product development for food industry based on a model developed using a mixed method. The preliminary model is proposed by reviewing related literature in innovation management and product development and also using semi-structured interviews with executive managers of food industry. Then using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the validity of the model and final scales were analyzed. The results show that Strategic Thinking (ST), , Product Features (PF), Skills and Abilities (SA), Internal and External Team Involvement (TI), Supply Chain Ability(SC), Development Process(DP) have a correlation with the success of new product development in food industries of Iran. Among these dimensions, market characteristic (MC) has the highest importance and after that Skills and Abilities (SA), Internal and External Team Involvement (TI) got the other ranks respectively.