Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness

Zillow Group, Inc.: Changing the Way Americans Buy Homes

David Lynn Hoffman — 2024-08-07

This case explores the rise of Zillow from its inception to its disruption of the mature real estate industry. Starting from a platform deriving income from advertising fees, it has grown into three business segments: Home Sales, Internet, Media, and Technology (IMT), and Zestimate. While the brand, Zillow, is synonymous with real estate, its disruption has opened the door for other innovators to enter the market. The case allows students to understand the role of a disruptor, examine market forces, and recommend what a successful cutting-edge technology company should do in the future.

Consumers’ Willingness to Pay a Price Premium for Integrated Products: A Moderated Mediation Model of Hedonic Value and Perceived Quality

Sereikhuoch Eng — 2024-08-07

Consumers are increasingly attuned to integrated products, packed with myriad functionality for ‘work’ and ‘play.’ Consumers may evaluate these integrated offerings along the dimensions of hedonic versus utilitarian values, and these products’ communication messaging and positioning may emphasize either the hedonic or utilitarian features. The present research examines the role of perceived hedonic vs. utilitarian values of integrated products vis-à-vis self-image congruence and perceived quality on consumers’ willingness to pay a price premium for these integrated offerings. Using empirical data from two studies, the results show that self-image congruence and willingness to pay a price premium exhibit a positive relationship that is mediated by perceived quality, and the strength of the mediated link varies by the levels of perceived hedonic vs. utilitarian value an individual places on an integrated product. The findings contribute to understanding the antecedents of consumers’ willingness to pay premium prices for integrated offerings.

Business and Artistic Legitimacy in Antioqueña Advertising 1920–1930

María Teresa Lopera Chaves — 2024-08-07

In the Colombian case, in the twenties of the 20th century, businessmen made their way into a coffee agriculture economy and mining, and for this reason, in addition to ensuring the sociopolitical and economic conditions that allowed their activities, they also had to work on their legitimation before society, and to do so they turned to already recognized painters and draftsmen to carry out the advertising of their companies, adding ideological content related to modernity and progress to their products, as the brands gained their visual distinctiveness. Thanks to this contribution, the artists also legitimized their profession as publicists and designers.

Lean, Clean, and Green Business: An Examination of the Millennial Consumer’s Perception of Corporate Environmental Practices and Green Marketing Tactics

J.C. Blewitt — 2024-08-07

This article aims to add to the understanding of the corporation’s role in sustainability through the specific lens of the Millennial consumer. Millennials possess $170 billion in purchasing power and will become the most impactful generation on the economy and the environment in the coming decades. Understanding what efforts resonate the most with this key stakeholder group is critical. Further, marketing tactics and standards are examined. A need exists for authority and standardization in marketing green products, such that they are legitimized, not green-washing, and easy to understand for potential consumers. Several propositions are developed, and managerial implications and conclusions are advanced.

Electronics Utilization by Consumers: Antecedents and Impact on Consumer Positivity

Gregory S. Black — 2024-08-07

A sample of consumers, ranging in age from late teens to 65, is used to examine the impact of demographic antecedents on consumer electronic utilization variables (age, household income, undergraduate major, and ethnicity).Then, the impact of these electronic utilization variables on positive consumer characteristics is examined (cultural openness, deal proneness, value judgment, self-esteem, and shopping enjoyment).Strong support indicates the various impacts the antecedents have on consumer electronic utilization. Findings also suggest the influence of these electronic utilization variables on positive consumer characteristics. The non-findings are discussed, and future research is suggested to further examine the relationships included in this study’s research model.

HRM System Formality and Organizational Ambidexterity Strategy in Technological Startup Companies

Yael Livneh — 2024-08-27

The low survival of technological startup companies (TSCs) is partly due to the lack of human resources management formality (HRMF). This study clarifies HRMF and identifies a relevant measure for TSCs. It explores HRMF changes and their fit with business strategy changes during TSC development, operationalized as dynamic organizational ambidexterity. Data from 147 TSC leaders and HR role holders were collected twice, a year apart. HRMF control and professionalism were significantly related to ambidexterity strategy. Findings indicate that strategy changes precede HRMF changes. Results suggest that HRMF practices should be periodically matched to the ambidexterity strategy for TSC success.

Consumer Product Perceptions Within Emerging Markets: The Product Adoption Process and Consumer Ethnocentrism

Miguel Sahagun — 2024-09-15

The general acceptance of globalization and free trade across most national governments has led to the massive proliferation of foreign goods across the globe within the past few decades. As a result, the consumer adoption of imported products has been researched extensively; however, the bulk of these studies have focused on developed countries, leaving less developed and emerging countries vastly unexplored compared to their developed counterparts. Using Mexico to represent an emerging market with high levels of consumer ethnocentrism, this study examines the relationships among consumers’ attitudes toward imported products, their behavioral intentions, and consumer ethnocentrism within the product adoption process framework. The results provide evidence of positive direct effects of attitude and behavioral intention towards imported products. The hypothesis that the product adoption process leads to purchase intention was also supported; however, there was insignificant evidence to support the proposed moderating effect of consumer ethnocentrism upon this product adoption process and purchase intention relationship.

The Creative Economy in Local Territories: Alibaba and Amazon in Territorial Competition, but Ideological Synergy to Bypass Democratic Governance

Bruno Lefèvre — 2024-09-15

Alibaba and Amazon now dominate global e-commerce. Although their strategies partly differ, they are both territorializing their activities around sorting hubs and warehouses. This often creates tensions in local territories. In our research exploring the effects of these strategies, conducted in France and Belgium from 2019 to 2022, we hypothesized that the impacts of the digital industrialization of local and global trade go beyond sales and logistics; the concentration of these markets in the hands of two ultra-dominant actors reflects unequal power relations that are reconfiguring governance, public decision-making, and democracy, notably by obscuring the major challenges that territories face.