Universität zu Köln

Ptok, Annette (2017). Essays in Marketing Strategy: The Role of Customer Integration, Marketing Metrics, and Advertising Effectiveness. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

The dissertation, coauthored by Annette Ptok addresses the overall topic of marketing strategy within three different essays. Marketing strategy is a complex bundle of decisions dealing with markets and customer segments to target as well as the communication and delivery of value to the customer always under the consideration of disposable budget investments. Nowadays, there are several challenges managers need to tackle with regard to marketing strategy (Bhasin 2016). The most important challenges can be classified into (1) becoming customer centric, (2) demonstrating the return on investment (ROI) of marketing actions, and (3) creating awareness for marketing content. The first essay “Wertschöpfung durch Kundenintegration” co-authored by Monika Käuferle and Werner Reinartz investigates the phenomenon of customer integration in a company’s value creation process. The role of the consumer as a passive recipient of goods and services has turned into the role of an active participant in the value creation process. Specifically, the authors provide a comprehensive definition and classification of customer integration and analyze the possibilities of customer participation in value creation as well as the motivation from customers’ and companies’ point of view. First, three levels of integration are identified: (1) customer segregation, (2) co-creation and (3) self-service. Second, the possibilities to integrate consumers in the value chain are analyzed along the primary and supportive value creation activities, which are classified in the activities of (1) product development, production, assortment, (2) information provision, consultancy, marketing communication, (3) transaction, logistics, and (4) service and support. Third, the main value of customer integration from a company’s perspective is based on the potential of increased (1) customer loyalty, (2) higher revenues and (3) profits. From customer perspective active integration is motivated by (1) improved qualitative purchase decision, (2) time and (3) cost savings, driving overall customer value. However, the active integration of the customer raises new challenges companies need to cope with. The major challenges are identified as (1) gaining access to consumer data, (2) keeping control over the value creation process, (3) avoiding confusion of the consumer, (3) avoiding the shift in costs, and (5) retaining consumer loyalty. The authors provide managerial implications to minimize these challenges and benefit from customer integration helping managers to effectively integrate customers in the value creation process. The second essay, entitled “SGA-based Marketing Metrics: Conceptual and Measurement Challenges” is co-authored by Annette Ptok, Rupinder Jindal, and Werner Reinartz. The authors investigate the conceptual and operational heterogeneity of constructs in marketing and management research. Specifically, the scarcity of available data sources, pushes scholars towards the usage of one data source, i.e. Compustat, which stems from the accounting research domain. The authors bring together domains of marketing and accounting by empirically investigating the validity of marketing and sales constructs operationalized by selling, general, and administrative expenses (SGA), which is one frequently used variable from Compustat. First, they provide an overview on the status quo of marketing and sales constructs that have been measured by SGA. A total of 11 major constructs have been measured by SGA or its modifications. The literature summary reveals two major issues with regard to conceptualization and operationalization. Different operationalizations have been applied for one and the same construct and one and the same operationalization was used for the scope of various constructs. Second, given the lack of sufficient validation of the heterogeneous scope of constructs operationalized by SGA, the authors validate those marketing and sales constructs by testing for content and construct validity. Third, based on measurement validation, guidelines are derived for the usage of an accounting data source in general and SGA in specific. These guidelines represent the cornerstone for consistent construct measurement when using SGA. The third essay, entitled “The Effectiveness of Incongruency on Advertising Processing and its Underlying Mechanisms” analyzes the interplay between cognitive, affective and conative constructs of advertising persuasion and uncovers the underlying processes and mechanisms that are triggered by incongruency. First, conducting an exploratory laboratory experiment that tests the effect of incongruency in TV ads on information processing and consumer behavior in a within-subject design with one factor and two levels (advertising stimulus: congruent versus incongruent ad), the author identifies that incongruency triggers three routes of processing, i.e. automatic, cognitive and emotional, which determine the overall conative outcome by the (1) the excitation-transfer mechanism, the (2) familiarity mechanism, and (3) the schema-discrepancy mechanism. First, an incongruent stimulus positively activates feelings of pleasure, which translates into a higher product value and attitude toward the brand. Second, incongruency stimulates consumer cognition and thus, positively impacts attitude and ultimately purchase intention. Third, incongruency has a negative effect on purchase intention mediated by attitude. The inner state of dissonance leads to a lower overall evaluation of the brand and hence, impeding purchase interest. The three mechanisms operate in parallel and depending on the strength of each mechanism consumer behavior is positively or negatively induced. Second, the author test the findings by differentiating between two the type of incongruency, i.e. humorous and absurd incongruency. The findings are replicable for the two types. Third, with relevance to practitioners, the author suggests implications for advertising strategies based on incongruent ad content. Together these essays reflect the impact on marketing strategy from three different viewpoints (relational, quantitative, and communicative role of marketing strategy). First, the ultimate goal of marketing strategy is to enhance performance, knowing the valid metrics, contributes to the assessment and implementation of successful of marketing strategy and value creation. Second, marketing strategy, specifically, marketing communication between company and customer suffers from declining levels of effectiveness. However, it is an essential tool to exchange informational value of products with customers, which needs to be managed effectively. Third, marketing strategy faces fundamental changes due to the active integration of the customer in the value creation process, which offer new chances, but also challenges to be overcome.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Ptok, Annette annette.ptok@t-online.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-80814
Date:	2017
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Business Administration > Marketing > Professorship for Business Administration, Retailing and Customer Management
Subjects:	Management and auxiliary services
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language marketing metrics, SGA, advertising effectiveness, customer integration, value creation UNSPECIFIED
Date of oral exam:	6 November 2017
Referee:	Name Academic Title Reinartz, Werner Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/8081