Browsing by Author "Lawer, Christopher"
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Item Open Access Customer advocacy and brand development(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2006-03-01T00:00:00Z) Lawer, Christopher; Knox, SimonPurpose – The purpose of this article is to define and explore the strategic value of customer advocacy through the lens of the brand management literature. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews recent analysis of the value and vulnerabilities of brands and branding in order to understand why customer advocacy is becoming an attractive strategic option for many firms. A model of empowered consumer value drivers is constructed to demonstrate how they are becoming an important source of brand value. A framework for brand management in a customer advocacy context is introduced and examples of companies pursuing advocacy-based strategies and practices are illustrated. Findings – Through careful brand management, customer advocacy is capable of unlocking new consumer value. Originality/value – The paper offers a discussion of the opportunities presented to brand management when developing customer advocacy.Item Open Access How does absorptive capacity influence the origin and evolution of dynamic capabilities(Cranfield University, 2010-02-22) Lawer, Christopher; Knox, SimonIn this thesis, I deploy a qualitative case-study method to examine the influence of a firm’s absorptive capacity of external knowledge on the origin and evolution of dynamic capabilities. First, I make an attempt to reduce some of the conceptual and definitional confusion in the dynamic capabilities literature by developing and then validating a conceptual framework for their study in the field. Second, to examine the underlying mechanisms leading to the origination and evolution of dynamic capabilities, I call on recent literature on the absorptive capacity construct that calls for more understanding of how absorptive capacity can produce and develop dynamic capabilities. I do so in the context of stated weaknesses in the absorptive capacity literature, namely that there is an R&D functional bias, a scientific and technical knowledge content bias (linked to R&D) at the expense of process knowledge, and a methodological preference for quantitative, descriptive studies. Third, with absorptive capacity as my lens – specifically potential absorptive capacity which is only concerned with the acquiring and assimilation, not the application, of new external knowledge by a firm (after Zahra and George, 2002) - I make an attempt to reveal the constituent processes of dynamic capabilities. Fourth, I discuss and reflect whether the development of absorptive capacity can be a dynamic capability in itself and what effects, if any, absorptive capacity has on existing or new dynamic capabilities and the firm’s resource base. Finally, by focusing on dynamic capabilities as processes (or the “how” of change) and absorptive capacity of knowledge of customer needs as the content (or the “what” of change) that is flowing through those processes, I make a tentative contribution to calls for the integration of the divergent research streams of strategy as process and strategy as content (Helfat with Maritan, 2007).Item Open Access Reverse-market orientation and corporate brand development(M e Sharpe Inc, 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z) Lawer, Christopher; Knox, SimonIn this paper we explore reverse-market orientation which we define as a market strategy that seeks more explicitly to align with customers to assist them in developing their optimum solution in a given marketplace. Starting from the premise that customers are now more empowered, we develop a model of customer value drivers to demonstrate how organizations with a reverse-market orientation can create and deliver new forms of customer value. We then describe how firms with this reverse-market orientation are addressing these value drivers and illustrate them with examples of early reverse-market practices. From a recent analysis of the corporate-brand literature on the value and vulnerabilities of corporate brands, we explore the circumstances in which a reverse-market orientation could become an attractive strategic option for certain brand-led organizations. Through a framework we have developed for corporate-brand management interested in adopting a reverse-market orientation, we identify the new capabilities such firms will require to build their brand successfully. We conclude by evaluating the distinctiveness and importance of a reverse-market orientation against the traditional view of how market-orientation has been conceived in the literature.