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PurposeManagers face the challenge of balancing resources needed to support value creation and value appropriation. In this study the authors analyze the impacts of innovation investments (i.e. value creation: VC) on advertising expenditures (i.e. value appropriation: VA), and vice versa, and verify the effects of these options on short- and long-term performance.Design/methodology/approachThe effects of these two activities on short- and long-term performance were analyzed observing a panel of 4,090 companies of Standard and Poor's Compustat database from a 40-year period. The authors adopted the panel vector autoregressive (VAR) approach, using the generalized method of moments (GMM).FindingsAlthough there is a trade-off between the strategic emphases on creating and appropriating value, there is also a synergy between them. The results from the impulse response functions support the argument for a virtuous business circle: companies that choose to intensify their investments in R&D tend to increase advertising expenditures, and vice versa.Practical implicationsManagers, rather than having to deal with a trade-off between allocating resources either on VC or VA activities, can capitalize on synergetic benefits resulting from the interaction among them.Originality/valueThe relationship between the VC and VA activities transcends the trade-off imposed by resource restrictions, since the interaction between them creates additional benefits afforded by the synergy of these activities.

This article aims to examine the boundary conditions that influence the relationship between pricing strategy in multi-channel retailing and fairness perception, since past research has found controversial results concerning this subject. In experiments 1 and 2, we show that differential pricing is perceived as fairer for products in comparison to services. In experiment 3, we show that when the price difference is justified by an explanation based on costs, it is perceived as fairer than an explanation based on channel benefits. These studies help to elucidate the controversial relationship between price strategy and perceived fairness, addressing boundary conditions that have not been tested before. We suggest that product retailers should consider differential pricing strategy, since many benefits have been reported in the literature, such as higher profitability. However, service managers should be careful about using this strategy, because fairness perception influences returning intentions. Additionally, whenever possible, the price difference should be justified by an explanation based on costs.

PurposeAlthough brand equity (BE) is a widely accepted concept, its definition is still elusive, and researchers have not reached a consensus about which measures provide the best estimates of this complex and multi-faceted construct. Hence, the authors propose a BE chain that incorporates consumer-based BE (CBBE) and firm-based BE (FBBE) measurement approaches, advocating in favor of a holistic approach and encouraging theoretical and empirical studies that assess the BE chain.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology entailed an extensive literature review on the subject. The authors included many different sources and the most accepted ones for measuring CBBE and FBBE.FindingsThe authors present 10 propositions to build the BE chain, encompassing the different approaches of BE and including its antecedents and consequences.Originality/valueConceptualizing BE is a complex problem given the different viewpoints describing several aspects of this intangible marketing asset. Thus, this study aims to foster discussions about such viewpoints and provide a framework to support the sedimentation of BE conceptualization.

PurposeCustomer, product and brand (CPB) management constitute relevant and inextricably linked levels of decision-making that marketers should manage to drive business success. However, they are generally treated separately in extant research. It leads to a disconnected assessment and management of customers and products/brands, preventing marketers to take advantage of the positive implications of managing them simultaneously. This paper aims to propose a conceptual framework to unify these perspectives: the CPB bottom-up approach.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on a range of extant literature on customer equity, brand equity and product performance to identify how financial performance is assessed in each of these perspectives and support the conceptual proposition to unify these different levels of decisions-making.FindingsThe proposed framework allows predicting and managing the expected values of these three intertwined perspectives together, providing a unified forward-looking metric to more effectively drive marketing efforts.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed framework opens the path for future discussion concerning possible models that can be adopted to implement it.Practical implicationsThe proposed framework allows managers to make decisions having a holistic assessment of CPB performance.Originality/valueIn practice, marketing managers have to deal with brand and product as well as customer levels of decision-making simultaneously. Besides this, adopting customer centricity does not decrease the importance of managing the performance of brands and products. Therefore, the proposition of a solution able to bridge the gap between these levels of decision-making enhances both the marketing practice and literature.