This study investigates brand switching behaviour among consumers in a competitive market. Emphasis historically places functional utility at the expense of social meanings. Given the paucity of literature, this study adopts a grounded theory methodology based on a series of in-depth interviews among Smartphone users in the UK to access consumers’ insights and experiences of specific brands and provides consideration of market disruptions. Data from this study confirms that literature does not capture non-utilitarian factors such as sociopsychological benefits. Underlying factors explore how resistance can be built from an identity theory perspective that motivate consumers to continue buying specific brands.

Introduction and background

There is a plethora of research on brand switching covering customers’ intentions to assess possible substitutes of product categories to maximise the functional utility of attributes and the marketing mix. Literature in this stream of research fails to acknowledge the impact of socio-psychological attributes besides functional utility maximisation. This research presents an empirical investigation into the phenomenon of brand switching behaviour of consumers in a competitive market, with implications for how resistance could be built from an identity theory perspective. Emphasis has historically been placed on functional utility of products at the expense of social meanings. With exceptions of product function, insufficient attention has been paid to socio-psychological attributes and personal and social meanings of brands (Lam et al., 2013; Sweeney and Soutar, 2001). The basic assumption underlying this study is that people are constantly involved in social interactions and interpreting their constantly changing world. Hence, this study deviates from the traditional economic viewpoint of dealing with brand switching as functional utility maximisation (Appiah and Ozuem, 2018), to treating brand switching as a consequence of social mobility between brand identities amongst consumers (He et al., 2012; Lam et al., 2013). The study explores existing literature on brand loyalty and identity theory to examine the effects of identity on customer loyalty. Despite extensive studies on brand loyalty (Ozuem and Lancaster, 2012) minimal research has been carried out to establish how market disruptions negatively impact customer-brand relationships and the strategies companies adopt to gain competitive advantage by repositioning themselves to sustain brand loyalty when disruptions occur in today’s complex and globalised business environment. Although loyalty literature offers valuable understanding of customer–brand relationships, two limitations trigger the need for critical investigation (Lam et al., 2013).

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of competitive market environments on the firm’s decision to adopt green supply chain management (GSCM) practices, while checking to see if the firm’s commitment to particular types of GSCM practices improves its performance. Design/methodology/approach – To confirm a positive link between the firm’s GSCM practices to its performance, the authors collected the data from 322 Korean firms via questionnaire surveys and then analyzed these data using the structural equation model. Findings – Among various types of GSCM practices, green purchasing has the greatest impact on both manufacturing and marketing performances. Also, internal environmental management positively influenced both manufacturing and marketing performances, whereas cooperation with customers and reverse logistics had no significant impact on the firm’s manufacturing and marketing performances. Originality/value – To provide a practical advice for firms which are hesitant to embrace green supply chain practices due to skeptical views about their true managerial benefits, this paper discerned more effective GSCM practices from less effective GSCM practices. In so doing, this paper is one of the few studies which pinpointed what types of specific GSCM practices are most effective in enhancing firm performance.

Introduction

Over the last decade, the planet earth has suffered from an unusual cycle of unprecedented heat waves, cold spells, droughts, floods and wildfires. For example, the summer of 2012 was the warmest summer on record, whereas the winter of 2014 was the coldest winter on record for the USA. Similarly, Australia, Japan, Korea, China and Europe experienced the record-setting heat waves in 2013 (Sheppard, 2014). The surface air temperatures on the average so far this decade are about 0.9o C higher than they were in the 1880s ((The) Economist, 2015). Many suspect that this extreme weather pattern is a vital sign of climate changes induced by human activities. Unless reversed, some scientists believe that this pattern can eventually destroy the livelihood of all species on earth by disrupting the biodiversity and causing serious food shortages (Pimm, 2009; Safont et al., 2012). A main culprit for this concerning pattern is the emission of harmful carbon dioxide into air. Actually, the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide reached 399 parts per million in 2014, which was the highest record for 650,000 years of this planet’s history ((The) Economist, 2015; NASA, 2015). This rapid rise of a carbon dioxide level in the air contributed to human activities associated with transportation (especially, use of gasoline-powered vehicles), inventory management, waste disposal, product manufacturing and energy creation (Piecyk and McKinnon, 2010; Sundarakani et al., 2010; Hua et al., 2011). Recognizing the detrimental impact of human activities (especially industrial activities) on environmental degradation, a growing number of today’s customers have begun to appreciate the firm’s commitment to environmental friendliness (greening initiatives) more than ever before. This changed attitude of customers has prompted firms to consider leveraging their environmental friendliness as the major selling point or the customer order-winning criterion. However, the firm’s commitment to greening initiatives often create a dilemma in that the firm’s environmental friendliness rarely comes free and its payoffs are not clearly known. To handle this dilemma, a series of attempts have been made to assess the impact of greening initiatives (e.g. green supply chain practices) on the firm’s performance. The focal point of these attempts is to determine whether greening initiatives are worthy of investment and managerial focus. For example, Klassen and McLaughlin (1996) discovered a strong link between the firm’s greening initiatives and its financial performance, as measured by stock market performance. Similarly, Melnyk et al. (2003) observed that the extent/maturity of the firm’s environmental management system was directly correlated with the firm’s performance, as expressed by perceived cost saving, lead time reduction, product quality improvement, market position strength and corporate reputation enhancement. Later, Montabon et al. (2007) confirmed that the firm’s environmental management practices such as remanufacturing, environment-friendly product design and surveillance of the market for environmental innovation were positively associated with the firm’s performance, as expressed by sales growth and return on investment (ROI). A plethora of other studies including the ones conducted by Florida (1996), Berry and Rondinelli (1998), Claver et al. (2007), Yang et al. (2011), Schrettle et al. (2014) and Tseng et al. (2015) verified a causal relationship between the firm’s environmental management practices and its performance.

Abstract

This study examined the innovation that leads to a competitive advantage in the frozen food business in the context of small-sized and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The research process consisted of three parts: 1) a literature study; 2) an empirical research study using questionnaires as a data collection tool; and 3) an analysis and conclusion of the research results using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings showed that innovation enhanced the advantages in competition via external factors. These external factors were divided into two groups: micro-oriented factors and macro-oriented factors. The external factors at the micro level had more influence on the innovation development of the frozen food businesses than those at the macro level. The results showed that entrepreneurs, especially SME entrepreneurs, need to adapt and readily prepare themselves to face upcoming economic changes, which are about to occur not only at the global level but also at the regional and the country levels. In addition to the internal contexts within the organization, external factors are also important, especially those that will lead to the development of innovation.

Introduction

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economic and social development of a country. The roles of SMEs are reflected in the creation of jobs and income, and improved trade balance and are the main mechanisms in revitalizing and enhancing national economic advancement via income generation and job creation. In addition, SMEs are the starting point of development into an industry. Most large companies at present developed from SMEs (Oduntan, 2014, Robu, 2013). SMEs are a major type of company, accounting for 95–99 percent of all businesses, with additional job creation totalling more than 60–70 percent (The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2016). In 2015 in Asia, SMEs accounted for 96 percent of the total enterprises and created more than 50–85 percent of the total employment positions within each Asian country.

According to Resource Based Theory (RBT), firms that possess valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable resources gain competitive advantage, owing to firm heterogeneity in the distribution of these resources and their imperfect mobility across firms (Barney, 1991). However, along with resources, firms also need to possess organizational capabilities to coordinate and exploit these resources and therefore Barney in his subsequent work stressed the importance of organizational capability to exploit the resources a firm possesses in order to attain and sustain competitive advantage (Barney, 1997). These resources and capabilities constitute bundles of tangible and intangible assets that include management skills, organizational processes, information and knowledge that the firm controls (Barney, 2001). In addition to the emphasis on resources and capabilities, which represents an important element in understanding competitive advantage, there was an increasingly felt need to probe the evolution of capabilities and their underlying linkages closely. In line with this belief, some prior work (e.g. Black & Boal, 1994) has argued that the interactions (or linkages) between various tangible and intangible resources1 enable firms to develop higher level routines leading to sustainable competitive advantage. Winter (2000) considers these higher level routines to be analogous to organizational capabilities.2 Black and Boal (1994) argue that strategic resources that are part of a complex network can enhance, compensate, detract or substitute for each other, such that the combination of resources is important to gain competitive advantage that is sustainable in the long run. Therefore, understanding how the interactions of these resources take place and enable evolution of capabilities (or higher level routines), potentially provides an important perspective towards unpacking the drivers that lead to competitive advantage in firms. Concurrent to the development of the theoretical building blocks pertaining to RBT, there have been several empirical studies that have focused on measuring the attributes of resources and capabilities and examining their implications on competitive advantage. (e.g., Barney, 2001; Henderson & Cockburn, 1994). In addition, studies have also engaged with issues pertaining to how capabilities change over time and the implications of these capability related changes on competitive advantage (e.g., Barney, 2001; Levinthal & Myatt, 1994). However, despite the importance of the phenomena, relatively scarce evidence exists of studies that empirically establish the linkages between resources and capabilities and their evolution. There are even fewer studies in the context of emerging markets where firms engage with each other based primarily on previous relations and trust, rather than presence of formal organizational processes, routines and structures (Kumaraswamy, Mudambi, Saranga, & Tripathy, 2012).

Competition in the business world is unavoidable, for that, every effort is required to always know, understand what is happening in the market, what customer wants; and understand the changes in the business environment so as to compete with others. For that reason, an attempt to understand what and how to manage a variety of resources owned to win the competition and create competitive advantage must always be created. Preparation of new products in the face of competition from rivals is one way to win competition through product innovation. Innovation means observing consumers to find and satisfy customers by providing new products, creating innovation in order to have a strategic position in the market and withstand attacks from competitors with the main objective to meet the market demand. As a result, it can be used as a competitive advantage for a business. Therefore, companies are required to provide new thoughts, ideas and innovative products. This becomes value created by a business to able to continuously be used by customers in form of sustainable competitive advantage to meet customers’ demands and complaints of product quality, customer needs, procurement of new markets and the existence of continuous product innovation. Besides product innovation strategy, location factors may also affect the competitive advantage in the rabbit meat culinary, especially in terms of accessibility. The proximity to the market is also a very important thing to consider in choosing a location. Driving Market competition could encourage businesses of rabbit meat to pursue high innovation in order to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage is the value created by the company for its customers, continuously. Sustainable competitive advantage can be seen from the accuracy of the company in the market to provide products in response to consumer demands and complaints of product quality, customer needs, procurement of new markets and product innovation. For years, there is a decline in rabbit outlets establishment. In 2006, there are only 3 outlets. Furthermore, in 2007, 2008, 2011 and 2012, there is only 1 to 2 stalls existing. In addition, rabbit cultivation is mostly done by breeder/community. So that, it creates a potential competitive advantages to create product market (Market Driving).

در حالی که محققان ساختار‌‌ و تأثیرات مالکیت معنوی را مورد بررسی قرار داده اند، اکثر تلاش های پژوهشی بر ثبت اختراعات به عنوان وسیله ای برای محافظت از سرمایه فکری شرکت متمرکز شده اند. با این حال همفیل (۲۰۰۴) پیشنهاد نمود که اسرار تجاری می‌تواند بر تفاوت بین موفقیت اقتصادی و شکست شرکت تأثیر بگذارد. وقتی اسرار تجاری مورد بحث قرار می گیرد، تمایل به تمرکز بیشتر بر اسرار معروف تر است که در مطبوعات عمومی مورد توجه قرار گرفته است (برای مثال کوکا کولا، کی اف سی، مک دونالد). برای رسیدگی به این کمبود قصه گویی اسرار تجاری، تحقیقاتی که در اینجا ارائه شده است، در یک رویکرد تاریخنگارانه برای ترسیم و تدوین مستقل از اسرار تجاری شرکت گنجانده شده است و در مورد اهداف استراتژیک در پشت بسیاری از تلاش‌های محرمانه وارد جزئیات شده است.مشاهده شده است که اسرار محصولات و فرایندها برای توسعه ادر‌اکات مثبت برند، محقق نمودن خرید برند استوار، کمک به تشخیص محصولات و خدمات از پیشنهادات رقابتی و ایجاد سهم بازار، مورد استفاده قرار گرفته است. ما پیشنهاد می دهیم که مدیران باید مرتبا این مورد را بررسی نمایند که کدام دارایی برای ثبت اختراع، طراحی محصول، نشان تجاری، حق انحصاری یا کسب و کار تجاری محرمانه مناسب می باشد و به جد در تلاش است که از دارایی های نامشهود شرکت محافظت نماید.