We study the influence of an explicit appeal to reciprocity as a design element in communication campaigns. We conduct an experiment based on a real campaign run by Deutsche Post, the German postal service, in which German citizens could participate in a sweepstakes and vote for their mail...

We suggest that a customer's option to switch suppliers, and to wait and see before switching, adds to customer value in uncertain markets, and affects the customer's switching behavior. We use a real options model to examine the value of this option and conduct sensitivity analyses based on...

The consumer goods market is characterized by strong competition. Thus, to bind customers to the company, a higher priority needs to be attributed to customer retention measures. Such measures include the loyalty card, but the use of the physical card is declining. To counteract this decline,...

Unter Rückgriff auf ausgewählte Prämissen der Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) werden die Erkenntnisse der etablierten modernen und der soziokulturellen Markenforschung strukturiert. Da die SDL eine Integration dieser Ansätze ermöglicht, entsteht eine neue, holistische Perspektive auf das...

Current literature argues that firms should have strong ties to customers to benefit from increased customer retention and loyalty. Strong ties, however, have also been shown to prevent innovation, suggesting that firms should also develop weak ties to other customer groups. This paper focuses...

Die Aktiengesellschaft ist eine Gesellschaft mit eigener Rechtspersönlichkeit, deren Grundkapital in Aktien zerlegt ist und die den Gläubigern nur mit dem Gesellschaftsvermögen haftet (§ 1 AktG). Sie ist ihrer Struktur nach Organisationsform für Publikumsgesellschaften. Der Gesetzgeber hat...

While in less developed and in transition economies microlending has become an efficient instrument for providing small and micro businesses with the necessary financial means, in industrialized countries, with highly developed banking systems, the existence and size of an uncovered demand for...

We examine the scope and value of targeted advertising in the magazine industry. We use data on reader characteristics at individual media, in contrast to previous work that has needed to infer this information from aggregate data. Our results show a strong relationship between subscriber...

The term 'global brand' has become widely used by the media and by consumers. Business week publishes annually its widely known ranking of the 'Best Global Brands' (with Coca-Cola as number 1 in the past years) and consumers on summer vacations purchase brands such as Heineken or Marlboro they...