Journal of Business and Retail Management Research

This study investigates the success factors that can influence the performance and the continuity of the French and Lebanese family firms. Based on the literature review, the performance of the family firms was found to be linked to effective success keys like the succession planning, networking strategy, financial structure, management practices and finally the governance structure. Effectively, the results of this study indicate that French family firms are linked to four success keys (Planning for Succession, Using of Emotional intelligence, Professional HR management and Long Term Overview) while the Lebanese family firms are linked to five success keys (Financial structure with low leverage, Planning for Succession, Using of Emotional intelligence, professional HR management and Governmental Networking). Due to the non-significant impact of governance structure, an advanced investigation has been applied to detect the impact of this variable on the performance of family firm. The results of this advanced study indicate a negative correlation between the performance of family firms and the board of directors’ size. Moreover, a positive correlation has been found between family firm performance and the presence of the outsiders in the board of directors.

Increasingly, marketers are opting to extend existing brand names (core brands) to new product introductions instead of introducing new brands into the marketplace. Using a familiar brand name is thought to reduce the risk of failure when introducing new products by facilitating distribution and by lowering needed promotion costs. Most of the research on brand extensions has been from the perspective of promotion, specifically advertising. Today, however, a significant percentage of consumers’ choices are made in-store, leading to increased attention being placed on in-store promotion. The objective of this study, therefore, is to begin to examine the effectiveness of brand extensions from a context of an environment representing the environment encountered in a retail setting. This study adds to the knowledge base on brand extensions. The findings suggest that in-aisle promotion material which adds additional cues for consumers to evaluate new brand extensions may have an effect on the attitudes that consumers possess toward brand extensions and their purchase intensions. The findings also suggest that image transfer from the core brand to the brand extension and the effects of image of the core brand on purchasing intensions of the brand extension may be product-specific.

The main interest of this document is to describe the importance of a localized marketing strategy and its implications when operating in the fast food industry within the Central America region, at the same time of illustrate the benefits in terms of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and growth in the short and long term that this type of strategy brings into context when applied correctly. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among consumers within the region, and as result of this, a positive relation was identified among localized food menus, new menus, and the recognition of an international brand, with a better customer satisfaction perception when operating among such industry. These findings may allow companies to determine based on their actual situation, the need to include new flavors, new meals, or develop new strategies that may take advantage of an international brand.

Due to inadequate initial allocation of supply, retail organizations are usually confronted with markdowns during a sales season. In this article the apparent paradox between the traditional Law of Demand and retailing pricing is solved. Through the use of Survival Analysis, as is commonly used in Biomedical Research, a framework is developed for determining optimal price paths in a retail context. When thought of in analogy to birth and death processes, sell through curves can be seen as life cycles of retail goods and can be applied in Revenue Optimization. We show that two significant events in calendar time exist: the moment a probable markdown occurs and the instance the underlying good is sold. Next, we apply convolution to define the markdown point in calendar time and estimate the price elasticity with an exhaustive search yielding the markdown moment that optimizes revenue

Despite much research on the product life cycle (PLC), little research was done on the determinants of the PLC patterns from the point of view of customer behavior and product innovation. Therefore, this study extends previous research on the product life cycle to answer the following question what are the effects of consumer preferences and product innovation on the product life-cycle patterns? In order to answer this question, this study surveys a convenience sample of 627 subjects in Taiwan by a self-developed questionnaire and adopts the multinomial logit model to analyze the sample data. The empirical results are showed as below： (1) The higher the level of customers’ preferences for functions of product was, the more probability the shape of product life cycle was “the innovation-ripe pattern”. (2)The higher the level of product innovation was, the more probability the shape of product life cycle was “the classical-pattern”. (3)The higher the level of interaction between product innovation and customers’ preferences for economy of product, the more probability the shape of product life cycle was “the cycle-recycle pattern”.

In a context of generalized economic recession consumers turn to cheaper foodstuffs and discounters expand their market share at the expense of conventional food retailers. Discounter’s international expansion is proceeding in many locations simultaneously, with varying results. There are several success stories but international expansion not infrequently ends in failure and withdrawal from the foreign market. Quite recently, at the end of 2010, the German discounter Aldi withdrew from Greece abandoning an ambitious investment programme.The aim of this paper is to investigate the crucial factors behind the recent withdrawal of the Aldi discount chain from Greece. Ccompany sources have placed unilateral emphasis on the external environment and encourage the idea that all have to do with the unfavorable external conditions. However ex post scrutiny of Aldi’s investment programme in Greece reveals a number of mistaken appraisals and unfortunate choices which took place during the phases of preparation and implementation of the investment. It is argued that, among other factors, overestimation of the size and potential of the domestic discounters’ market and incoherent elaboration of the network of retail outlets were largely responsible for the failure of the undertaking.

There has been large scale gold mining in Ghana for at least the last one hundred years. The mining companies with the passage of time have moved from being concerned only with profit making to ‘doing well by doing good’. For some years now the gold mining companies have made some contributions to the communities in which they work. This study focused on the corporate social responsibility activities of these companies with respect to the governance structure put in place and the funds allocated for such activities. The study found that the Ghana Chamber of Mines in reporting the expenditure its members made on corporate social responsibility activities added cost elements which do not qualify to be referred to as corporate social responsibility. The funds set aside for social corporate responsibility were very small and could not bring about a meaningful change in the communities. Also, the companies operated various governance modules with different levels of community participation. The study recommends among others that the Ghana Chamber of Mines establishes a CSR Index to encourage its members to do more in that area. There is also the need for more transparency in the accounting of CSR expenditures. The companies are also to allocate more funds for social corporate responsibility.

To maintain a competitive advantage, firms are increasingly regarding customer-perceived value as a vital factor in creating new service methods. Customer advocacy presents a cascade of stages, from the operating strategy and delivery system of the company to the customer's perception of service quality. After reviewing related literature, this research identified the antecedents of customer advocacy affecting the customers, and explored the effect of customer advocacy on customer perceived value, taking customer trust and satisfaction as the intervening construct. We formulated six hypotheses. Data were collected from 388 usable questionnaires, which had been completed by customers for Taiwanese telecommunication firms. The hypotheses were tested with respondent-sample data by using a structural equation model. The results indicated that customer advocacy directly and positively relates to customer trust and satisfaction, customer trust and satisfaction directly and positively relate to customer perceived value, and customer empowerment and organizational innovation directly and positively relate to customer advocacy.

The principal aim of this research paper is to investigate the factors that influence customer satisfaction in respect of the services rendered by Vodacom in Gauteng province of South Africa. In view of this, the researcher carried out an empirical investigation on those factors that can influence customer satisfaction. The findings of this research analysis confirmed the following: Firstly, the research shows that there is a relationship between customer`s perceived quality and the level of satisfaction. Secondly, the research confirmed that there is a relationship between customer loyalty and the level of satisfaction in the services offered by Vodacom. Thirdly, it was also confirmed that there is a relationship between Vodacom corporate image and the level of customer satisfaction. Fourthly, this research confirmed that there is a relationship between customer complaints handling techniques by Vodacom and the level of customer satisfaction. Conclusively, this research finally developed a model on how the above factors can be integrated so as to increase customer`s level of satisfaction in the use of Vodacom services in Gauteng province of South Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship among corporate image and reputation, service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty through a case analysis on one of the biggest Egyptian company. A structured questionnaire was developed. The hypotheses were simultaneously tested on a sample of 650 customers out of 800 distributed, giving a response rate of 81.25 per cent. Several analytical techniques were used to assess the relationships among the variables under investigation such as Pearson correlation, chi-square, and multiple linear regressions. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the mediating role. The findings of this study have shown significant relationships among the variables under investigation. It is imperative to explore how an international company can effectively and efficiently work in the Egyptian culture gaining their customers satisfaction and loyalty. The research was limited to one of the biggest international company that is working in Egypt. Also the use of cross-sectional design restricts inferences being drawn regarding casualty. Despite the significant academic interest in service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, this study contributes in adding to the body of the Egyptian culture knowledge. Also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge there is no study published that explores the influence of corporate reputation and image and its relationship to how customers perceive the offered service, whet