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INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2023 M2 COMMUNICATIONS Call analytics platform Transaction Network Services (TNS) has partnered with the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative, to publish a concept paper on branded calling and its impact [...]

While the use of paper in packaging solutions has been on the decline since the early 2000s, consumer sentiment is driving demand for the biodegradable product. In a recent survey [...]

MORE AND MORE CUSTOMERS are going to their keyboards instead of their mailboxes to collect and pay bills for their homes and businesses. In fact, a majority of customers who […]

Based on a joint research paper by TSIA and Coveo Today's customer support operations are overwhelmed by data--more often than not, leading to inaction. The deluge of social media content, [...]

The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has affected our personal lives, businesses, schools, health care systems, government and shopping behaviors. As retailers and manufacturers on the front line, we face real, daily [...]

According to the Paperboard Packaging Council's recent 'Trends: 2017 Industry Outlook and Market Data Report,' US folding carton shipments will grow at a 0.4% annual rate over the next five [...]

SCA's Libero brand has beaten out rival Kimberly-Clark's Huggies brand among Indian consumers, according to a much-awaited consumer desire indicator, India's Most Attractive Brands 2016, a study comparing the 'attractiveness' [...]

Purpose: To investigate the impact of intellectual capital on financial performance. Design/methodology/approach: A panel data set of consumer product companies listed in Bursa Malaysia, regression method used to analyse the data. Findings: All intellectual Capital elements of Structural Capital Efficiency (SCE), Human Capital Efficiency (HCE) and Capital Employed Efficiency (CEE) indicate a significant impact towards financial performance. Additionally, CEE contribute the higher contribution in the Fixed Effect model. Research limitations/implications: A limited 50 consumer product companies with period of study is 2011-2019. Practical implications: Benefited to financial experts, potential investors, management and future researchers. Originality/value: Give readers an overview and understanding of the intellectual capital. Paper type: Research paper Keywords: Intellectual capital, Financial performance, VAIC, Human capital efficiency (HCE), structural capital efficiency (SCE), Capital employed efficiency (CEE), Introduction Performance of a company is determined by variety factors, including experience, expertise, and education level of its employees and managers. Improved intellectual capital will serve as an internal factor [...]

MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV), a provider of packaging and packaging solutions, launched its third annual Packaging Matters, the company's study of the impact of packaging on product satisfaction and consumer purchasing [...]

As toilet paper, hand sanitizer and chicken parts began to fly off the grocery store shelves in March of 2020, it became increasingly clear to many consumer-packaged goods companies that [...]

This paper aims to study the connection between a firm's characteristics and dividend policy in the consumer product and trading services sector from 2015-2019. The static panel data analysis is the best method as this study combines two elements of analysis: time series and cross-sectional to achieve this study's objective. Referring to the findings from the fixed-effect model, among independent variables that influence dividend policy, only liquidity and profitability factors demonstrated a significant impact on dividend policy for these two sectors. These findings indicate that a company that possesses higher liquidity will pay a higher dividend to its shareholders. In contrast with the profitability result, the profitable company tends to pay a lower dividend. Thus, this study could give the shareholders' view about the performance of particular companies on their responsibility in paying the dividend to the shareholders and investors. Consistent with dividend signaling theory, a company's announcement of an increase in dividend policy is a sign of positive future predictions regarding sustainability and faithfulness to the company. This research suggests that in the future, to focus on the risk factors that might directly affect the decision on the dividend policy. Besides, the risk elements also can be a benchmark to enhance the performance of companies. Keywords: Dividend policy, Consumer Product and Trading Services Sector, Panel Data, Dividend Signaling Theory., Introduction The capital market is a platform for various long-term financial instruments in equity and debt with maturities of more than one year. Investors have expectations (return) of their investments, [...]

Purpose: The study aims to explore the service quality in the Omani luxury hotels to identify key attributes that can result in customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study's objectives were to assess guests' expectations of service quality in Muscat's luxury hotels, determine the key attributes discerned by guests in evaluating the service quality of luxury hotels in Muscat, and measure guests' satisfaction and loyalty towards the service offered in luxury hotels in Muscat. The research question was what effect does the service quality have on customer satisfaction and loyalty in luxury hotels in Muscat. Design/methedolgy/approach: The study adopted a descriptive research design to determine the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, the study adopted quantitative research and used a survey questionnaire to collect the data and propose findings. Due to the testing of different theories rather than developing them, the research approach is considered a deductive approach. Findings: Results concluded that customers had very high expectations of service quality in Oman's luxury hotels. Guests ranked ten different service quality attributes; the results showed that 'physical facilities are visually appealing' ranked the most significant among all attributes. However, 'a wide variety of food' was the least important among all attributes. The results further revealed that all attributes of the five distinct dimensions had a potent influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Originality: This study is unique as no previous studies have been conducted in Oman, making it a one-of-a-kind study on Muscat's luxury hotels. This study's results will be valuable to hotel practitioners, the government, tourism development companies and future researchers. Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Luxury hotels Category: Applied Paper, 1. Introduction Countries in the Middle East region are highly reliant upon their oil reserves for economic development. Oman's oil and gas industry provides more than 80% of total government [...]

Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to study how the e-banking consumers' perceive the e-banking services of public, private and foreign sector banks operating in the Indian banking sector and also making a deeper introspection of service quality in all three types of banks to understand whether there is a significant difference in service quality on the basis of nature of banks. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses self-structured questionnaire duly validated and tested for reliability in this research. Factor analysis, Regression analysis and ANOVA have been used in the paper. ANOVA has been used to find out whether there is a significant difference in e-banking service quality in public, private and foreign banks. It makes an empirical analysis of factors influencing e-banking service quality by using Factor Analysis and then a relation between service quality and customer loyalty has been found by using Regression analysis. Findings: Findings of the research paper are that improvement in service quality would induce higher customer loyalty. The initial part of paper measures the e-banking services through Debit, Credit, Internet, Telephone, Mobile, Depository, Investment and Multicity facilities in three types of banks. The results of ANOVA highlight that there is a significant difference in these facilities of public, private and foreign banks. Factor analysis results help to reduce 12 features of service quality into four factors. These four factors explain 84.014 per cent of variation. These four factors are: Website interface, Security, Convenience and Access. Originality: The present research focuses on e-banking service quality and customer loyalty covering changing dynamics of public, private and foreign banks' consumers in India, which has not been covered in earlier studies. The service quality features are for e-banking only and are different from the earlier studies on banking in general. On the basis of regression, the study identifies the factors to be either improved or enhanced and the banks can accordingly focus on the areas they want to improve/ enhance for increasing customer loyalty. Keywords: Service quality, E-banking, Customer loyalty, India. Paper Type: Research Paper, Introduction In this era of stiff competition, public, private and foreign sector banks in India have realized the importance of achieving high levels of customer satisfaction by providing service quality [...]

Motivation: An extremely important stream of research on sustainable consumption relates to the values that consumers report as their own. The majority of research focuses on biological or utility values, but there are not many studies on social values, which are important for adapting sustainable consumption. Premise: The question, 'What values should represent consumers to accept ideas of sustainable consumption?' remains. In this study we applied a new approach, identifying consumer attitudes opposing sustainable consumption and measuring the correlation between consumers' social values and misbehavior; that is, being at odds with the concept of sustainability. Approach: A quantitative statistical investigation was conducted on a quota sample of 1,200 respondents, giving evidence of represented social values, and attitudes toward market misbehavior and sustainable consumption. By undertaking this research, social values were analyzed according to Schwartz's theory. Results: The purpose of this paper was to identify the relationship between consumers' social values and their attitudes toward misbehavior in the context of sustainable consumption. Results show that in consumers who represent high levels of universalism, benevolence, or conservatism, a negative attitude toward misbehavior was identified. We can assume that consumers who represent those values are more willing to adopt the concept of sustainable consumption. Conclusion: The results of this research contribute mainly to the development of theory-cognitive values. Findings demonstrate different aspects of consumer misbehavior by means of comprehensible components of social values. Results help predict consumer behavior under some specific values in the context of sustainable consumption. Consistency: These findings may be applied in the practical operation of companies that want to develop business based on the sustainability concept. Knowledge of consumer values and attitudes is indispensable to the development of marketing programs and strategies, and to the creation of methods to prevent and counteract different consumers' misbehavior. Keywords: consumer attitudes, consumer behavior, misbehavior, social values, sustainable consumption, INTRODUCTION The phenomenon of sustainable consumption refers directly to the concept of sustainable development (Harrison 2005). It is a complex category and a subject of interest to various scientific disciplines, [...]

OVERVIEW: This paper describes mobile market research applications (MMRAs), new Voice of the Customer (VoC) tools that take advantage of the ubiquity of smartphones. MMRAs provide an efficient and effective method of collecting intimate, in situ data from customers, allowing traditional VoC approaches to be augmented with digitally captured data. MMRAs can thus reduce ambiguity in the fuzzy front end of the innovation process by providing access to data from likely customers from the earliest stages of exploration. To benefit from MMRAs, however, organizations must move beyond a traditional mindset: the adoption of an MMRA requires teams to be restructured and projects reorganized to accommodate the new methods enabled by the tools. KEYWORDS: Voice of the Customer, Design research, Digital tools, Voice of the Customer (VoC) methods provide new product development teams with tools to capture customers' preferences and needs so that they can develop products that satisfy those preferences and [...]

Purpose: This article studies the behavior of the Tunisian consumers towards their consumptions of water drinking, as well as their reactions further to an improvement in the services of consumption. Design/methodology/approach: For empirical study, we used data stemming from a statistical survey made on a sample of 1200 Tunisian households during the 2004 year. Findings: The empirical study shows that the quality of the drinking water is characterized by an intra and inter-regional diversity. Furthermore, the estimation of the demand function shows that the variation of the amount of water paid cost is especially due to the physical nature of the good(property) drinking water. The estimation of the consent to pay (CAP) by linear and qualitative models shows that the variable income is the most strategic. Research limitations/implications: This work concerns only the 2004 year, as a possible extension of this paper one can assess the dynamic evolution of the water drinking behavior of Tunisian consumers. Practical implications: The results of this paper is useful in the sense that the Tunisian government can use it to better improve water consumption and water management. Originality/value: This paper shows that the variable quality of the water plays an important role in the determination of the tariff structure allowing to respect the excise duties of the households and to ensure social equity. Keywords: Quality of the Water, the Consent to Pay, Qualitative Models, Social Equity, Ccontingent Valuation Method Paper type: Research paper Purpose: Cet article etudie le comportement des consommateurs Tunisiens vis-a-vis de leurs consommations de l'eau potable, ainsi que leurs reactions suite a une amelioration dans les services de consommation. Design/methodologie/approche: Nous avons utilise des donnees issues d'une enquete statistique effectuee sur un chantillon portant sur 1200 menages Tunisien au cours de l'annee 2004. Resultats: L'etude empirique a montre que la qualite de l'eau potable est caracterisee par une diversite intra et inter-regionale. De plus, l'estimation de la fonction de demande montre que la variation du montant de la facture est due surtout a la nature physique du bien eau potable. L'estimation du consentement a payer (CAP) par des modeles linaires et qualitatifs montre que la variable revenu est la plus strategique. Les limites de la recherche/implications: Ce travail est limite a l'enquete fait en 2004, une extension possible est d'etudier la dynamique temporelle du comportement de consommateurs Tunisiens. Implications pratiques: les resultats de ce papier sont d'utilite importante puisqu'ils permettent de mieux ameliorer la consommation de l'eau et de sa gestion. Originalite/valeur: Les resultats obtenus mettent en evidence l'importance de la variable qualite de l'eau dans la determination de la structure tarifaire permettant de respecter les droits de consommation des menages et d'assurer l'equite sociale. Mots cles: Qualite de l'eau, consentement a payer, modeles qualitatifs, equite sociale, methode devaluation contingent., 1. INTRODUCTION Les mutations economiques, demographiques et urbaines sont des facteurs qui contribuent, generalement, a une surexploitation, souvent irrationnelle, des ressources naturelles. En effet, une utilisation non equilibree de la [...]

Purpose--This paper discusses internet marketing relevance and investigates antecedents of consumer attitudes toward IA. The analysis is based on a consumer survey conducted in India. For this purpose, a representative quota sample of Internet users in India has been interviewed. The finding of this study provides marketers with an understanding of consumers, their attitude toward advertising, so as designers and marketers can better strategize their advertising designs. Design/methodology/approach--Data for this survey was collected from Internet users among students, employees and entrepreneurs in India in summer 2011. A purposive sample was recruited with the assistance from professional survey research companies. Overall, 190 questionnaires were collected in employees, 192 from entrepreneurs, and 196 from the students. This sample is considered a representative of the population. Pilot study was also conducted to test the validity and reliability of the research. Findings--The present paper has provided thorough information on the impact of various factors on internet advertising and the distinction of internet advertising effectiveness among three demographically different variables. This study was also able to give the insight of the varios dimensions and their extent of influence on internet advertising. Practical implications--This study provides with an insight based on which it is understood that the five factors which are entertainment, information credibility, economy and value are significant predictors of attitude towards internet advertising. With internet gaining the prominence among direct marketers on the globe, this research provides managers with the valuable findings that can be applied to integrate direct bossiness with global customers. Originality/value--India has the third largest internet population in the world that makes it a good fit for doing research on the topic of internet advertising. The large number of internet population of this country also gives this research a greater generalizability and acceptance. Research limitations--The recommendations and managerial implications presented in the above section were based on the primary data collected and analyzed for this research. The generalizability of the findings of this research should be taken with caution as the research bears little limitation; firstly, the resources and the limited sample size that can not be considered as an absolute representative of the whole population of India. This research has been undertaken in India, a broader research scope is there where a multinational sample can be taken to make research findings more general. The perception of consumers may vary from country to country due to various personal and environmental factors which also hinder in absolutely generalizing the research findings. Keywords: Online Advertising, Attitude, Entrepreneurs, Credibility, Value Paper type: Research Paper, Introduction While much research has been done on the topic of internet advertising but there is hardly any research focused on understanding the attitude towards online advertising in comparison to [...]

Purpose--Intrinsic motivation, as indicated in a number of studies, closely related to brand evaluation where this intrinsic motivation depends on motive, involvement and also NFC of individual. In accordance with the above-mentioned statement, this study is accomplished and is aimed at analyzing the effects of motive, involvement, NFC on consumer brand evaluation (i.e., motorcycle) from intrinsic motivation perspective. Design/methodology/approach--Research procedure follow the procedure in early research commonly, with the early step is instruct the subject to explore the information about product raised in questioner by showing the name of brand from each products. Analysis conducted for this research follows the result of path analysis from Amos 6, by emphasizing at influence within variable as compiled in hypothesis. Findings--Research results show that individual involvement and motive significantly affect motivation but they do not affect brand evaluation. NFC is found to affect intrinsic motivation and brand evaluation; intrinsic motivation affects individual brand evaluation. It was also found in the resulted model that there exist a partial-mediation role of intrinsic motivation within the relationship between NFC and brand evaluation; a full-mediation role of intrinsic motivation within the relationship among involvement, motive, and brand evaluation. Practical Implication--There are some contribution from this research, joining paradigm of examination of guide exploiting with the procedure used typically in persuasion (e.g. manipulation between involvement and motive). First, do not same to the most research in a past, this research examine the information processing in brand assessment. Second, do not as research about information processing assuming that involvement (as personal relevance) directed only by utilitarian motive; in this research we examined the influence of individual involvement, motif, and NFC by each other at intrinsic motivation. Besides, is also examined the influence of intrinsic motivation at consumer brand evaluation activity. Originality/value--Result of this research is expected to give the worthwhile information in the field of marketing science, especially about respective consumer behavior with the relation pattern between individual involvement, motive, NFC and also intrinsic motivation in its relation with the brand evaluation, especially among college student. Keywords: Intrinsic Motivation, Involvement, Motive, NFC, Brand Evaluation, Path Analysis. Paper type: Research Paper, Research Background The competition in motorcycle industry is very high, according to the amount of new comer in the industry. Competition was not in price only, because the manufacturer offer [...]

Purpose--This paper focuses on the evolution of the consumption society and its reflection into the Romanian society by analyzing three stages of socio-economic development after the fall of the communist regime in 1989. Design/methodology/approach--An interdisciplinary literature review was used, touching economical, sociological and psychological aspects of consumption. The Romanian case study was designed taking into account indicators as inflation rate, import/export ratio, Gini index and the evolution of consumption credits. Findings--Our research cleary indicates that even a developing country as Romania is confronted with hyper consumerist attitudes, grephed on the postcommunist heritage. Originality/value--The paper enhances the understanding of the consumerist phenomena by exposing the theoretical issues along with practical realities. The emphasis lays on the personal, social and also country risks that can be generated by maintaining this paradigm. Research implications--The results of the paper set the grounds for further comparative research on this extreme manifestation of consumer behavior. Using the perspective developed by the field of behavioral economics, we highlight some irational patterns of human behavior with regard to consumption, pointing out specific aspects intricately linked with our national mentalities. Keywords: consumerist society, hyperconsumption, Romania. Paper type: Research Paper/Case study, Introduction A long period of time consumption has been ignored and excluded as a subject of study or interest: 'the history of consumption has no history, no community of scholars, [...]

Purpose--The present research aims to look at the ways in which Augmented Reality Experiential Marketing (AREM) is beneficial for companies and brands not only on short-term--the 'shiny object' syndrome, but also on the long-term, contributing to the creation of customer satisfaction, as other forms of experiential marketing have done, which can lead to an increase in customer loyalty, intention of repetitive purchasing, positive word-of-mouth (WOM) or a greater market share. Based on the aim of this research paper and on the literature review, three measures of the perceived value have been chosen--enhancing convenience, influencing enjoyment and affecting brand attitude. Design/methodology/approach--Because this research focuses around the concept of perceived experiential value, the methodological approach chosen will be interpretative 'underpinned by the belief that social reality is not objective but highly subjective--shaped by our perceptions'. Focus groups will be the method used for this qualitative study because they are dynamic group discussions much like real unconstrained everyday conversations which have the capacity of surfacing meanings and emotions about AR experiential marketing applications that might not be articulated elsewhere. A semi-structured approach informed by the previous-mentioned objectives will be used in conducting these focus groups being rather flexible but also overcoming the researcher's inexperience in research studies which, in the case of an unstructured approach, might become risky leading to serious deviation from the subject. Findings--There is little understanding of the long-term effects of AR marketing due to scarceness in benchmarks, measurable elements and research studies. Based on these findings, this paper explores the ways in which AREM leads to the creation of perceived experiential value, and thus contributing to the development of customer satisfaction. Glasses Direct is the brand chosen for this research because it is one of the few companies that uses AR as an ongoing marketing process, not just as part of one particular campaign, being very often given as a positive example of how brands should undertake AR technologies to enhance customers' experience and drive longterm brand benefits. Focusing on a particular case also makes the abstract concept of AREM operational in terms of participants' understanding of the subject and the researcher's analysis of the results. Research limitations--The lack of any AR experiential marketing research studies and the few mainly quantitative experiential marketing studies have led the researcher to take an exploratory qualitative approach which will also extend marketers' understanding of AR experiential marketing's effects on experiential value. This approach will allow a deeper mining into the participants' mind and will provide a more accurate representation of consumers' subjectivity. Also, this lack of any research studies on AR experiential marketing, the inadvertences, ambiguities and the predisposition towards quantitative methods in the aforementioned experiential marketing research related to customer satisfaction are only a few of the rationales behind this research project. Moreover, controversies and the problem of limited knowledge arise with the question of 'what are the long-term effects of AR experiential marketing on our business?' even for marketing practitioners. Practical implications--Because this is a qualitative study where researcher's personal thoughts and opinions about AR could affect the credibility of the analysis and of the results, several elements have been used for the pilot and will be used for further researches to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings--credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. The pilot study itself helped to amend any leading questions and to test the methodology's accuracy and appropriateness, while helping discover new themes which will be included in further researches. Peer checking has also been useful for finding any 'blind spots' and for checking the questions' effectiveness and it will also be considered in further studies. Member checking was furthermore used to verify the accuracy of the coding and to get valuable feedback from focus group members after the research, thus ensuring a clear understanding of the themes discussed, so no personal ideas would infiltrate in their explanation. To ensure a good transferability of the findings, a rich description of the participants and of the case study used in the focus groups will be provided for further papers. Originality/value--The use of Augmented Reality as a form of experiential marketing during the past two years has been raising numerous controversies regarding its long-term benefits, extending from AR being only a promotional tool, to AR effectively contributing to a positive customer-brand relationship and to customer satisfaction through the creation of perceived experiential value. The way in which AR has been used in marketing campaigns can be seen as a form of experiential marketing because it focuses not only on a product/service, but also on an entire experience created for the customers. Although more marketers are inclined to consider AREM a serious direction for their brands' future, the lack of any research studies in this area, complemented by the rapid adoption of this trend and the expected increasing value of the AR market urge the need for a prompt clarification of the effects of this form of experiential marketing, consequently demonstrating the value and originality of the present paper. However, more research is needed to replicate these findings on other cultures and to further investigate the connections discovered, through qualitative studies. The relationship between values and customer satisfaction is additionally supported by different research findings who suggest that experiential marketing should deliver experiential value--emotional and functional value, and positive customer satisfaction. Keywords: Augmented Reality, Marketing Strategies, Promotional Tool Paper type: Research Paper, Introduction Entering into a toy shop and being able to see the contents of a box 'assembled' on a screen in real-time only by pointing the box to a webcam [...]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing the online purchase intention in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses quantitative method for a total of 250 respondents. Measurement such as descriptive analyses, and Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analysis are used to test the hypothesis. Findings: The multiple regression results show customers value, personal innovative, website quality, trust and satisfaction are the main factors influence the online purchase intention in Malaysia. However, website quality does not have any impact to the online purchase intention. Research limitations/implications: This study provides an analysis of fast moving consumer goods in Malaysia. Originality/Value: This paper has its origin in the fast moving consumer goods in Malaysia. Keywords: Perceived Value; Trust; Satisfaction; Consumer Commitment, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Introduction Today, the usage of Internet especially on tablets and mobile devices have become the most influential tool for business, communication and entertainment purpose (Law, Kwok, & Ng, 2016). As [...]

Purpose: Low carbon infrastructure has gained attention across the globe since 2006. In built environment, a number of challenges have been identified to convince homeowners to support low carbon initiatives in a community. Some research conducted in developed and developing countries suggest that homeowners have positive attitude towards low carbon or green residence, but the adaptation intention of such residence may subject to homeowner socioeconomic status and lifestyle. However, little is known what other factors influence the adaptation intention of green residence, which factors have the main influence on the intention and which factors mediate such influence. Design/methodology/approach: This study reviews scholarly literature on consumer behaviors to present identified factors that influence adaptation intention and presents the conceptual framework to investigate the relationship among those factors in influencing homeowners to purchase green residence or to retrofit current residence. Findings: The findings provide some insight on the non-structural dimensions of built environment and the framework will be investigated and validated in subsequent research works. Originality/value: The study is to identify factors influencing homeowners' adaptation intention of green residence. Keywords: green; intention; residence; attitude; homeowners; environmental Paper Type: Literature Review, Introduction In the context of built environment, several indexes have been introduced to recognize green or low buildings. For example, in developed countries, Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method (BREEAM) [...]

Consumer preference shouldn't come into Aldi's choice of sustainable bag We learned this week that Aldi customers like compostable plastic bags more than paper ones. It's not an altogether surprising [...]