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The growing use of the Internet to share experiences and information related to products and services has created the need for companies to enter this environment in order to understand these digital consumers and meet new demands. In this context, the present article aims to analyze the digital purchasing profile of meal consumers in the city of Corumbá, Brazil, which shares a dry border with the municipality of Puerto Quijarro, Bolivia, given the increase in this consumption modality in 2020. The research collected data from 104 consumers and 31 entrepreneurs. The results show that social networks are the most used media for interaction between consumers and companies in Corumbá and that they provide greater convenience and ease for conducting purchases and sales through the virtual environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of Business intelligence (BI) has become increasingly prominent among organizations for attracting customers and gaining a competitive edge. This becomes even more important for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which face immense pressure to retain existing customers and attract more customers for survival. This study presents a systematic literature review of studies investigating the impact of BI on customer relations with exclusive focus on Indonesia, which has a growing number of SMEs (also called ‘UMKMs’). By examining 15 papers published between 2013 to 2024, the findings of the study highlight that BI contributes to building better connections with customers and making them feel more engaged and satisfied. This study provides valuable insights for SMEs in Indonesia to adopt BI to attract more customers. The findings of the study also lay the foundation for future research, especially those wanting to perform an empirical investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Jordan, the pharmaceutical sector has been a driving force in recent economic growth. So, new supply chain management and information technology is likely to have a strong impact on managing sustainability in the supply chain management with all its aspects; environmentally, socially and economically in pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. However, there is a lack of studies aimed at recognizing how supply chain practices (SCP) can affect sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) conceptualized as environmental, social and economic aspects. So, this study aims to find out how supply chain practices conceptualized by (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) can affect SSCM conceptualized as (environmental, social and economic) with the mediating role of the information and communication technology (ICT) in the pharmaceutical sector in Jordan. A total of 313 questionnaires selected by simple random sampling disseminated to the respondents who were chosen from the population list of 1568 the managers of pharmacies working in Amman the capital of Jordan. The study used SEM with SMART-PLS 4 to analyze the data collected, measurement model used to analyze the validity and reliability of the model and the path coefficient in the structural equation model used to test the study hypotheses. The results of this study support all of five direct effect hypotheses and the two indirect hypotheses. The result of the study finds that SCP (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) have a significant impact in the ICT and SSCM, and ICT has significant impact on SSCM, also the result of the study found that ICT mediate the impact of the SCP (strategic supplier partnership and customer relationship) and SSCM in the Jordanian pharmaceutical sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to investigate the effect of Customer Knowledge Management on the perceived quality of university library services through the mediating role of customer relationships at the University of Tabriz Central Library. This research is a correlational study that has been carried out using Structural Equation Modeling and survey method. The study population includes all 15732 students of Tabriz University in the academic year 2020-2021, of which 375 people were selected as a sample using stratified random sampling. A questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SEM with the partial least squares method. The results showed that Customer Knowledge Management had a positive and direct effect on the perceived quality of Central Library services of Tabriz University. Also, customer relationships had a mediating role in the relationship between customer knowledge management. They perceived the quality of Central Library services of Tabriz University. In other words, Customer Relationship strengthens the relationship between Customer Knowledge Management and the perceived quality of Central Library services of Tabriz University. The Central Library of Tabriz University can improve the perceived quality of services among users and their satisfaction with the library by improving customer knowledge management and customer relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study aims to determine the moderating effect of customer relationship on supply chain risk management and organizational performance, specifically for Pakistan's logistics sector. The logistics sector is selected for the study as it has considerable significance in the country's economy and also having substantial growth due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This study is quantitative in nature and data collection is performed through a questionnaire based on several instruments (operation risk management, strategic risk management, perceived performance, customer relationship) from officials (administrative and management) of various public and private logistics companies involved in supply chain and customer relationships. A total of 227 responses are received out of 300, with 11 incomplete responses being eliminated. The hypotheses are formulated based on the literature and research theme. The hypotheses testing are performed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) methodology. The findings suggest that strategic risk management and supply chain performance have a favorable relationship. The study also showed that there exists a negative association between customer relationship and performance. Conversely, the relationship between operational risk management and performance was not established in this study. The findings of this study offer inspiration for future research that can apply these findings on large sample of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media and customer relationships have become ubiquitous, and every organization now depends on both to manage and meet their organizational targets. Most organizations are now finding it necessary to adopt Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) to improve their marketing strategies and facilitate customer expectation of continuity. In essence, there has been a public interest in using SCRM on eco‐friendly brands, and these have become inevitable for the new generation of sustainable marketing organizations. This study investigates the effectiveness of SCRM benefits and examines the relationships among customer commitment, customer trust, customer relationship satisfaction, customer relationship quality, and expectation of continuity. The results revealed that relationship benefits positively influence commitment, trust, satisfaction, and relationship quality; likewise, they influence customer expectation of continuity, except trust, which is not significant. The study provides recommendations for managers to maximize the advantages of the relationship to the expectation of continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling and mathematical simulation are used in every field. To obtain improvement of relationship with customers is also used modeling. Relational marketing is not a choice, is a demand. The customers, which are emotionally related with the organization, will have more trust into it and will develop a strong commitment and a sustainable relationship, if the organization is more involved in keeping a positive and strong relationship with its customers and determine their value. The goal of this study is to bring in discussion the role and the importance of relationship with customers based on sustainable communication, customers being the main source of profit and value on long term for any company. To obtain this, was implemented a model of simulation and strategic communication, analysed through the prism of customers' 360 degrees. Data were gathered from 100 customers and the results showed a strog relationship based on communication with its customers and the important role of employees in this relationship; the new technologies used in relationship with the customers, according to the literature, have a crucial role in attracting, retaining and growing the number of customers, but this study shows that is used at a very reduced level in the analysed organization. Mathematical simulation played an important role in discovering the right way through the maze of the new products and information present into the analysed supermarket based on continuous communication and relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overwhelmed by the use of social media in augmenting human interactions, researchers have developed special interest in understanding the use of social media in developing strong and customized relationships with customers. In line with this, the current study aims to explore the impact of social media on purchasing behavior with mediating effect of customer relationship. The findings indicate that majority of the respondents use social media for purchasing purpose and there is a positive relation between social media and customer relationship, as well as social media and purchasing behavior, with customer relationships fully mediating and enhancing the relationship between social media and purchasing behavior. It has been also found that the majority of the respondents use social media for purchasing purposes. This study offers new insights into the conceptual development and understanding of social media in enhancing customer relationships and affecting purchasing behavior. The study acts as a strong support and aid towards developing and managing global customer relationships through the use of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationship marketing has become an important part of today's economic research and practice that complements the traditional marketing approach. With regard to building a reliable theoretical foundation for this branch of science, the transference of established psychological and sociological theories is of particular significance. As an attempt to further frame the underlying theoretical basis, the present article focuses on discussing sociology's convoy model theory in view of business-to-customer relationships. On the one hand, this contributes to the progression of relationship marketing's fundamental conception. On the other hand, it provides management implications specific to a novel subject. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • We study a duopoly with history-based pricing and switching costs. • The owners delegate pricing to managers with short-term objectives. • Managerial short-termism generates higher profits. • Managerial short-termism softens price competition at the stage when customer relationships are established. Abstract We study a duopoly model of history-based price competition with switching costs and demonstrate how strategic history-based pricing induces the owners of the firms to implement managerial short-termism by delegating the pricing decisions to managers with a discount factor lower than that of the owners. Managerial short-termism is a strategic device whereby owners can soften price competition at the stage when customer relationships are established. The degree of short short-termism is shown to depend on the market structure, the intensity of competition and the magnitude of switching costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Library initiatives to first-year students not only present an opportunity to offer information literacy instruction for student advancement, but they also serve a key marketing function by communicating the library's ongoing value and building customer relationships. Library orientation tours are an example of how to effectively market to first-year students. Combining peer-to-peer learning and user-generated content via social media known as crowdsourcing, Newman Library sponsored a contest challenging first-year students to create a video sharing a useful library tip. The contributions and benefits of this cocreation approach to fostering relationships are examined, and the implications to strengthening other library-user bonds are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of social network, Facebook, in consumer behavior of consumers in Curitiba (a city in Brazil). Specifically, the study sought to understand how the target audience searches for products, to what extent social network influence them, if they buy more or have brand recall in decisive moments. We collected data through a sample of 88 consumers in Curitiba and analyzed them from the interpretation of the statistical description. We concluded that the brands that keep their Facebook profiles active do not directly influence consumer behavior and do not encourage immediate purchase because consumers seek entertainment, information and relevant content on Facebook. However, the companies have opportunities to establish and strengthen relationship with their consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics functions have played a critical role in cementing organizational efficiency and price control. At the same time, sales has become more than closing the deal, as value can be created throughout the sales process, including post-purchase activities. Therefore, sales and logistics must come together to create value for the firm as well as customers. Building on the marketing-channel communication strategy viewpoint, we conceptualize the integration between sales and logistics. We propose a framework centering on sales-logistics integration and develop propositions that uncover how a collaborative communication between these two functions may impact specific business processes. Finally, we discuss implications of these predictions and provide a future research agenda for theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article justifies the expanded classification of the information systems of the customer relationship management. Such classification provides the systematized features based on the literature references and also its own classification features, such as: by the kind of service, by the integration degree of the existing enterprise information system and by the type of the database access. The article also gives their detailed explanation. Suggested, extended classification improves existing theoretical concepts and developments in the areas of effective information systems for customer relationship management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Institute Cervantes is a public not-for-profit institution founded by the Government of Spain in 1991, with the aim to promote the Spanish language and the cultures of Spanish speaking countries around the globe. Nowadays it represents the largest international Spanish teaching organization with more than 70 centers on four continents. The Institute Cervantes in Belgrade was founded in 2004 and ever since the Institution has been entirely dedicated to promotion of the Spanish language and its culture in Serbia. Almost instantly the Institute has gained immense popularity. This paper deals with quantitative and qualitative analysis of public relations policy implemented in the Center in the period 2011- 2012. Thanks to the regular media monitoring and introduction of visitors' surveys in the Institute, it is possible to determine the impact of public relations activities on people who visit cultural events. In the Institute Cervantes public relations are conducted through media relations, social media, internal communications, special events, sponsorship or partnership and community relations. Media relations are the most important among these activities. During the season 2011/2012 the Institute Cervantes published 1.177 media releases, in different media (66% on the Internet, 22% in print media, 7% on TV and 4% in magazines). According to visitors' surveys, the Internet web sites are the main source of information for our visitors. Next to them, as very important channels, there are social media. The Institute Cervantes maintains a very good direct communication with 5.423 fans through one of these media and has, per month, nearly 13.000 visitors on its web site. The Institute Cervantes also uses other activities for promotional purposes, such as sales promotion, advertising, or direct marketing. Nevertheless, PR activities are the key element in promotional strategy. In addition to accurate analysis, our specific objective is to diagnose the problems and propose solutions that can be practically applied in the work of the Center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Companies engage in business relationships for a variety of reasons, including specialization, product development, and building competitive networks. Research has demonstrated that mergers and acquisitions (M&As) may challenge ongoing business relationships. The purpose of this article is to investigate whether and how competition authorities consider business relationships when evaluating M&As. Methodology: The article uses the documentation from 450 M&As reported to the Swedish competition authority to capture the way in which an authority evaluates M&As. The Swedish competition authority evaluation corresponds to other national and international evaluation procedures. Findings: The findings indicate that the competition authorities neglect an important aspect of business life, namely companies forming business relationships. The competition authorities evaluate M&As on the basis of risk for price increases, and consequently disregard such issues as heterogeneity in demand and offerings, and values built into existing business relationships. Originality/Value/Contribution: The article contributes to research on business relationships through exploring how a public authority deals with such relationships. It also contributes to research on mergers and acquisitions through examining how these activities are evaluated by competition authorities. Furthermore, the article contributes to competition research by reflecting on competition law concerning M&A regulations in relation to business relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Based on prior studies, the performance of customer relationships depends highly on the characteristics of the e-service. However, the strength of this association can be impacted when businesses employ multichannel services (e.g. offering online and offline services). With multichannel services, any inconsistency in perceived quality across channels may result in customer distrust toward a service provider. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of inconsistent quality on the association between e-service quality and customer relationships in a university context. Design/methodology/approach – This study conducted a web survey and 318 respondents who have both physical and e-service experiences were collected. The inconsistent quality across channels was divided into three groups by k-means clustering approach. Next, the hypothesized associations were analyzed using regression analysis based on three groups. Findings – The results show that inconsistent quality has different impacts on the association between e-service quality and customer relationships across the three groups. Especially in the positive disconfirmation group, the investment in e-services will be in vain because certain e-service sub-constructs lose their impact on customer relationships. Practical implications – The findings of this study provide implications for improving customer relationships under different cross-channel quality inconsistency conditions for managers. Originality/value – This study extends the concept of expectancy disconfirmation theory to the multichannel service context and pioneers the exploration of the moderating effect of cross-channel quality inconsistency in customer relationships, contributing to the understanding of the literature about the impacts of inconsistent quality on customer relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates empowered consumer behavior and explores its evolutionary nature and contemporary contexts in developed countries. Through a comprehensive literature review multi-perspective analysis, it finally develops a prescriptive marketing communication model in the context of an evolving business-consumer relationship and its corresponding marketing philosophy. The findings identify a rising symbiotic equilibrium between consumers' power and businesses' influence on consumers' perceptions. Consumer “needs” are found to be increasingly manifested into “wants” which are intangible, of obscure value, affective in nature and vulnerable to marketing communications; the latter being increasingly oriented towards “perception management” and with “branding” as a primary vehicle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-creation is a new paradigm that has captured the imagination of marketing and management professionals and scholars. Drawing on Foucault's notion of government and neo-Marxist theories of labor and value, we critically interrogate the cultural, social, and economic politics of this new management technique. We suggest that co-creation represents a political form of power aimed at generating particular forms of consumer life at once free and controllable, creative and docile. We argue that the discourse of value co-creation stands for a notion of modern corporate power that is no longer aimed at disciplining consumers and shaping actions according to a given norm, but at working with and through the freedom of the consumer. In short, administering consumption in ways that allow for the continuous emergence and exploitation of creative and valuable forms of consumer labor is the true meaning of the concept of co-creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to examine service recovery under a strategic perspective, as a relationship tool. A theoretical model has been proposed and tested, with focus on interrelationships among specific evaluations of complaint process, trust, switching costs, perceived value, and loyalty. The findings indicate that customer trust and loyalty are affected by the way complaints are resolved. Perceptions of justice affected satisfaction with complaint management. Consumer trust is strongly influenced by post-complaint satisfaction. Finally, both intentions of repurchase and word-of-mouth communication were influenced by trust, satisfaction and perceived value. Switching costs did not moderate the relationships between satisfaction, trust and loyalty, and demonstrated to have low influence on intentions of repurchase. Therefore, the creation of mechanisms that inhibit customers' exit is not enough keep them, and an adequate complaint management may be an efficient tool to develop long-termed relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to analyze how service quality, relationship benefit, and experience value affect the customers' intention to maintain a long-term relationship with auto repair centers through service quality and trust. To this end, a statistical analysis was performed, based on a total of 319 survey data from customers who possess experience in using auto repair services. It was found that all factors of service quality, relationship benefits, and experience values directly influence service satisfaction and affect long-term relationship through service satisfaction. In the case of relationship benefits and experience values, however, it did not affect service trust, and the relationship benefit factor did not affect the maintenance of a long-term relationship through service trust. Consequently, it was found that in the auto repair service sector, customers consider service satisfaction more important than service trust in maintaining the long-term use relationship with a service center or sales branch. This result confirms that auto repair service has a significant influence on customers through the quality of auto repair and customer satisfaction regarding the repair results through troubleshooting, unlike general services that are affected by psychological properties such as a products' brand and attractiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]