Suchergebnisse

Purpose: COVID-19 is expected to enhance hospitality robotization because frontline robots facilitate social distancing, lowering contagion risk. Investing in frontline robots emerges as a solution to recover customer trust and encourage demand. However, we ignore how customers perceive these initiatives and, therefore, their efficacy. Focusing on robot employment at hotels and on Generation Z customers, this study aims to analyze guests' perceptions about robots' COVID-19 prevention efficacy and their impact on booking intentions. Design/methodology/approach: This study tests its hypotheses combining an experimental design methodology with partial least squares. Survey data from 711 Generation Z individuals in Spain were collected in 2 periods of time. Findings: Generation Z customers consider that robots reduce contagion risk at hotels. Robot anthropomorphism increases perceived COVID-19 prevention efficacy, regardless of the context where the robots are used. Robots' COVID-19 prevention efficacy provokes better attitudes and higher booking intentions. Research limitations/implications: The sampling method used in this research impedes this study's results generalization. Further research could replicate this study using random sampling methods to ensure representativeness, even for other generational cohorts. Practical implications: Employing robots as a COVID-19 prevention measure can enhance demand, especially if robots are human-like. Hoteliers need to communicate that robots can reduce contagion risk, particularly in markets more affected by COVID-19. Robots must be employed in low social presence contexts. Governments could encourage robotization by financially supporting hotels and publicly acknowledging its benefits regarding COVID-19 prevention. Originality/value: This study combines preventive health, robotics and hospitality literature to study robot implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on Generation Z guests – potential facilitators of robot diffusion ; Carolan Research Forum – ORT 2020; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, project PID2020-113561RB-I00

Despite the increasing research importance of market orientation in the marketing literature, few comparative studies between the European Union and the USA have been conducted. This limits the understanding of marketing orientation strategy in global markets. Investigates the influence of competitive environments on the uses of market orientation in insurance firms in the EU and the USA and the effects of market orientation on innovations. Using Lambin's conceptualization of market orientation, our results indicate that, although EU and US insurance firms analyze and react to their environment differently, which in turn is reflected in a differential impact on their degree of innovation, this, however, does not translate into overall market orientation differences across markets, differential relations across markets between overall market orientation and innovation degree and innovation performance. Furthermore, there is a positive impact of overall market orientation on insurance firms' innovation degree and innovation performance in both the US and EU markets. The managerial implications of these findings seem clear: the magnitude and the effectiveness of the innovation activities of a firm can be enhanced through the adoption of market orientation principles ; This research was partially supported by DGESIC, project PB97 0084

Previous studies have found that market orientation significantly predicts economic performance. The present study attempts to provide a necessarily partial model for how this impact takes place using innovation degree, innovation performance and customer loyalty as intermediate variables. The study targets the insurance industry in the European Union. The sample accounted for 22 percent of the companies and 17 percent of the insurance premiums in this market. The results suggest that the addition of these variables improves predictions of objective economic performance 52 percent over what is explained by market orientation alone. Furthermore, the study found that the effects of market orientation on economic performance are completely channeled (mediated) through these variables, particularly through innovation degree and innovation performance. Based on the results the paper provide guidelines for improving the market share, premium growth and profitability of European Union insurance firms. ; Publicado

Despite the increasing research importance of market orientation in the marketing literature, few comparative studies between the European Union and the USA have been conducted. This limits the understanding of marketing orientation strategy in global markets. Investigates the influence of competitive environments on the uses of market orientation in insurance firms in the EU and the USA and the effects of market orientation on innovations. Using Lambin's conceptualization of market orientation, our results indicate that, although EU and US insurance firms analyze and react to their environment differently, which in turn is reflected in a differential impact on their degree of innovation, this, however, does not translate into overall market orientation differences across markets, differential relations across markets between overall market orientation and innovation degree and innovation performance. Furthermore, there is a positive impact of overall market orientation on insurance firms' innovation degree and innovation performance in both the US and EU markets. The managerial implications of these findings seem clear: the magnitude and the effectiveness of the innovation activities of a firm can be enhanced through the adoption of market orientation principles ; This research was partially supported by DGESIC, project PB97 0084 ; Publicado

Previous studies have found that market orientation significantly predicts economic performance. The present study attempts to provide a necessarily partial model for how this impact takes place using innovation degree, innovation performance and customer loyalty as intermediate variables. The study targets the insurance industry in the European Union. Our sample accounted for 22 % of the companies and 17 % of the insurance premiums in this market. Our results suggests that the addition of these variables improves our predictions of objective economic performance over what is explained by market orientation alone. Furthermore, we found that the effects of market orientation on economic performance are completely channeled (mediated) through these variables, particularly through innovation degree and innovation performance.

Esta investigación extiende al conjunto de países de la Unión Europea, estudios previos sobre la orientación al mercado (OM) de las entidades aseguradoras. Utilizando una muestra de 112 empresas aseguradoras europeas, (a) se purifica la escala de medida del nivel de OM diseñada previamente por los autores (b) se examina la estructura factorial de la escala, y (c) se compara el nivel medio de OM entre empresas aseguradoras españolas y las del restod e Europa. La escala utilizada se reveló unidimensional y no aparecieron diferencias significativas en el nivel de OM entre las empresas españolas y las del resto de la UE. ; We extend to the European Union market preceding studies on market orientation (MO) in insurance firms. Usian a sample of 112 UE insurante firms, (a) we purify a MO scale previosly develope by the authors, (b) we examine its factor structure, and (c) we compare the mean level of MO among insurance firms in Spain and that of the rest of de UE. The measure used in the study was found to be unidimensional. Furthermore, there are no significant mean differences in market orientation between Spanish and rest-of-the-UE insurance firms.

This article attempts to identify and assess the evolution of consumers' differential reactions to major service attribute classes that resulted from and were propagated by a severe financial crisis. The authors perform a longitudinal analysis, using correspondence analysis of square asymmetric matrices, on data generated from three different postcrisis time periods. The first period encompasses data during the 2 weeks after the crisis occurred, the second period assesses data 1 year later, and the third period refers to 5 years later. The results from the first and second periods both indicate the growing importance of credence attributes rather than search attributes compared with during the precrisis period. The third-period analysis indicates a reversal and greater importance of the search attributes that were important in the precrisis period. The results also reveal correlations with the type of banking organization. These findings point to important managerial implications; bank management's inability to realize the shift in consumers' attitudes failed to facilitate and expedite a resolution to the crisis.

Esta investigación extiende al conjunto de países de la Unión Europea, estudios previos sobre la orientación al mercado (OM) de las entidades aseguradoras. Utilizando una muestra de 112 empresas aseguradoras europeas, (a) se purifica la escala de medida del nivel de OM diseñada previamente por los autores (b) se examina la estructura factorial de la escala, y (c) se compara el nivel medio de OM entre empresas aseguradoras españolas y las del restod e Europa. La escala utilizada se reveló unidimensional y no aparecieron diferencias significativas en el nivel de OM entre las empresas españolas y las del resto de la UE. ; We extend to the European Union market preceding studies on market orientation (MO) in insurance firms. Usian a sample of 112 UE insurante firms, (a) we purify a MO scale previosly develope by the authors, (b) we examine its factor structure, and (c) we compare the mean level of MO among insurance firms in Spain and that of the rest of de UE. The measure used in the study was found to be unidimensional. Furthermore, there are no significant mean differences in market orientation between Spanish and rest-of-the-UE insurance firms. ; Publicado

Most companies the world over are actively participating in the race of investments in the service industry. The main question to solve is what new products and services should offer these companies to remain profitable. Avaílable frameworks aiming at aiding the managerial decision-making process, -as it regards to new products and services design and development, are largely based upon empirical data proceeding from the manufacturing sector. Given that services are different from goods, the expansion of insurance services may require sorne peculiar approaches. Morgan et al. say that the turbulent environment of the eighties, "created the pre-conditíons necessary lor the consumer direct insurance industry to become a laboratory 01 experimentation jor the financial servíces industry". So far, as Stone et al. (1997,354) suggest: "lnsurance companies are now having to manage customer bases where average persistence is substantially lower that it used to be. This means a much stronger jocus on customer retention, customer acquisition, and customer development". This article examines how far the manufacturing oriented frameworks elaborated for the design and development of new products apply to the service sector in general, and to the European insurance industry in particular. European insurance companies operate in a highly volatíle market, so their survival relies upon the identification of the outstanding cornerstones leading to market leadership. For that purpose, insurance firms must design and re-design the essential core elements that will allow them to identify new areas of business and attracting and retaining customer. Drew states that the success and/or faílure of the new product/service development process for service firms are influenced by factors similar to those encountered in industrial firms. Nevertheless, insurance products and services use to have short product life cycles and it is easy to copy them; thus, sorne differences may arise between industrial products and insurance services. It should be also taken into account that the managerial practices of the European Insurance companies may diverge as the companies belong to different countries, deal with different types of insurance premiurns, and achieve diverse performance success levels. So far, it is important to develop an explanatory model that allow both researchers and practitioners to recognise the isolated and conjoint effects of the different variables that affect the success of the New Service Development Process. In this article, we examine how most successful insurance companies, -as it pertains to the quality, frequency, and quantity of successful new services,apply their managerial practices. More particularly, we review the underpinning points between innovation degree, marketing information sharing -as related to managerial practices, new product success and corporate performance. The model is tested applying structural equation modeling techniques to a sample of 113 European Union Insurance firms. We identify the different explanatory relationships, as well as the relative importance of the different analysed variables.

Reverse logistics (RL) has strategic importance. However, little is known concerning what motivates firms to adopt RL systems. Drawing on stakeholder theory formulations, organizational slack, and the manager's strategic stance concept, this article develops a model that proposes external, internal, and individual factors that affect the implementation of RL programs. Our framework considers three major explicative variables: the attributes of the stakeholder (power, legitimacy and urgency), organizational slack for RL programs, and the manager's strategic posture. The study draws on a sample of 118 Spanish companies and uses a probit model to determine the influence of these factors on the probability of firms to implement RL systems. The study finds that customers, employees, and the government salience in terms of RL activities and manager's progressive posture have a significant influence on the final decision of implanting RL programs. Conversely, the study finds that shareholder salience negatively impacts the decision. ; Fundación BBVA and the project "Estrategias en las empresas europeas internacionales y medioambiente: análisis de recursos humanos, producción y negocio" for supporting this research. They also acknowledge the help of Prof. Dr. Carlos Larrinaga in providing access to financial statements. They are indebted as well to the Spanish Minister of Education and Science and the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid which have provided financial support under the research projects entitled "Diseño e implantación de las estrategias medioambientales de aprovisionamiento, fabricación y comercialización: relación con el rendimiento organizativo" (sec2001-1578-c02- 01), "La dirección de operaciones y las teorías de stakeholders y de recursos y capacidades. Implicaciones estratégicas en la gestión del ciclo de vida de los equipos informáticos" (SEJ04- 07877-C02-02),. "Efectos de los distintos tipos de relaciones entre las empresas y sus mercados: prácticas de marketing, orientación al mercado y resultados económicos", and " Innovación versus imitacón: un test de la capacidad innovadora de las empresas de la Comunidad de Madrid ". ; Publicado