Understanding Interactive Network Branding In Sme Firms

Introducing the innovative concept of Interactive Network Branding (INB), this book offers academics and professionals a theoretical framework, alongside practical examples, to develop INB in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Sustainability is a top priority for organizations and a key strategy in corporate agendas, but the effective deployment of any strategy demands that the strategy is consistent, functional, and aligned. This Handbook advocates sustainability strategies that encompass environmental, social, and economic dimensions at department-level.

The business world consists of interlinked entities, which require acting cooperatively in order to reach the desired aims. Individuals are at the core of business-to-business (B2B) marketing and are responsible for making decisions, negotiating, networking, branding, and all other of the firm’s vital processes. Especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the role of individuals is important, as those in charge of the SMEs are often the face and the mind of a company. However, the role of the individual in B2B marketing literature has often been overlooked. This book covers the gap by providing a variety of novel perspectives that involve individuals as central figures in the B2B marketing environment. This book will provide practical implications on the topics in focus, which will bring the role and importance of individuals to the fore in the understanding of how B2B marketing works. It introduces readers to the role of embedded individual managers in developing and changing business systems and networks and consists of three core sections: cognition (individual sensemaking within a business environment), action (decision-making in business networks), and finally, contextualization (interrelation between micro- and macro-levels). Each section is supported with case studies to exemplify the research ideas presented. Individuals in B2B Marketing offers a comprehensive investigation into this much overlooked topic and will be a valuable resource for marketing, entrepreneurship, and international business scholars and graduate students in particular.

Following recent growth of ethical consumerism, customers and other stakeholders increasingly pressure organizations to be socially responsible and minimize their negative impact on the environment. Accordingly, a plethora of firms have integrated corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the center of their business strategies and actions. Whilst this has resulted in many firms meeting their broader responsibilities toward society and the environment, some firms have used CSR in a manipulative and insincere way. As stakeholders become aware of such misuse of CSR, largely thanks to the rapid evolution of information technologies, they start to penalize firms by spreading negative word of mouth about them, and specifically about their CSR knowledge, values, and actions. Now, more than ever before, stakeholders are increasingly critical and cautious in their assessments of firms’ CSR knowledge, values, and actions. On this background, this edited volume sheds light on different internal and external perspectives spanning CSR knowledge, values, and actions. It shares theoretical, practical, and case-based insights on the broader topic and can be of interest to researchers, academics, practitioners, and advanced students in the fields of CSR and business ethics, knowledge management, strategy, and marketing.

This book presents an in-depth exploration of contemporary business-to-business branding practices. Bringing together both theoretical and practical views on the subject, the editors curate a range of business case studies, offering guidance on strategy in B2B contexts, use of the brand, how mistakes can be avoided, and which channels to use.

Social media branding provides the thinking, evidence, and practice to create a road map for practitioners in small businesses to develop and implement their brand in online and of ine communities. It provides a starting point, as one of the biggest issues for small businesses is where to start. Social Media Branding For Small Businesses provides a framework to guide your strategy and implementation. The approach is called the 5-Sources Model. The resources are the have fundamental branding principles that focus on simply outsourcing your brand. Putting the customer back in control while focusing on the community and this group of dedicated customers and other stakeholders. The 5-Sources Model simply says that the social media brand for small businesses needs to play an important role in your customers’ functional and emotional existence. It is both the serious and the fun experience of your brand.

Written for undergraduate and MBA courses in business-to-business marketing or industrial marketing, this text explores the process of understanding, creating and delivering value to targeted business markets and customers. It provides an analytical framework for determining value.

This paper investigates the economic rationale for intervention in support of small and medium scale enterprises, on both theoretical and empirical grounds. It argues that the justification for SME interventions lies in market and institutional failures that bias the size distribution of firms, rather than on any inherent economic benefits provided by small firms. The role of the state is mainly to provide an enabling business environment that opens access to markets and reduces policy-induced biases against small firms. Governments can accelerate the development of markets for financial and non-financial services suited to SMEs by promoting innovation in products and delivery mechanisms, and by building institutional capacity. Improving the development impact of SME strategies will require much more attention to the monitoring and evaluation of intervention outcomes.