1,721,061 research outputs found
Aligning innovative banks’ sustainability strategies with customer expectations and perceptions: The CSR feedback framework
Full text linkIn the ever-evolving banking landscape, effectively addressing sustainability concerns while meeting customer expectations is essential. This study introduces an innovative Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Feedback Framework designed to align the banks' sustainability strategies with customer perceptions and expectations. The framework utilizes a comprehensive approach by integrating customer feedback on CSR through a survey-based methodology grounded in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines. It features the novel CSR Feedback Matrix to evaluate the degree to which a bank's sustainability strategy aligns with customer expectations and satisfaction, while also comparing these factors against those of competitors within the industry. Additionally, the framework employs the TOPSIS technique to calculate a Critical CSR Score (CCS), ranking sustainability aspects based on their level of criticality. The findings reveal key areas where banks can enhance their CSR efforts to better meet customer requirements. Furthermore, the analysis of customer segmentation by demographic factors provides actionable insights for developing targeted CSR strategies tailored to diverse customer needs and preferences. This research contributes to the ongoing dialogue regarding sustainability strategies from a customer-centric perspective, providing practical guidance for managers to foster positive customer relationships while advancing corporate responsibility. (c) 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Espa & ntilde;a, S.L.U. on behalf of Journal of Innovation & Knowledge. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
An Analysis of the Impact on Welfare deriving from the New European Regulation of International Roaming
No full textThe new EU regulation on international mobile
roaming, which has recently come into force, and the introduction
of the ‘Eurotariff’ have both had an impact on the welfare of
consumers as well as on producer surplus. The aim of this paper
is to analyse such effects at a national level in the 27 EU States.
In particular this study enables the variation in welfare to be
calculated according to the type of international call (Calls Home,
Local Calls, or Received Calls) and to the market segment
(Business or Residential). The paper also examines the welfare
trend over the initial three year period after the regulation is put
into force.
The analysis is carried out to identify which nations will
benefit most from the intervention of the European Community,
and also to evaluate the relationship in each individual nation
between the level of market maturity and an increase in the level
of welfare
Chinese website design: Communication as a mirror of culture
No full textCompanies now depend on the internet for internal and external communications, however the web is not necessarily neutral. The multitude of company websites within the global system present varying linguistic, cultural and communication characteristics, which determine different experiences depending on the local culture of the user. The design of culturally appropriate websites is viewed as essential to communication, mainly for marketing. This article therefore aims at analysing the impact of cultural characteristics on web design and marketing communication. China presents a vast market and internet population, withspecific cultural characteristics,and for these reasons is the subject chosen for study. The study develops a methodology based on an adaptation of Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural dimensions for purposes of analysing website content. The methodology makes it possible to measure the projection of underlyingculturalcharacteristicsinwebsitedesign.Thecontentanalysisof 75 websites Chinese companies quoted on the Hong Kong and Shanghaistockmarketsrevealsthattheirdesignreflectslocalcultural characteristics. Furthermore, the analysis of the Chinese and English versionsofthe websites reveals thatthere the latterprovide virtually no adaptation to an international clientele, particularly as concerns the indicators of Collectivism, UncertaintyAvoidance and Long Term Orientation
Chinese website design: Communication as a mirror of culture
No full textCompanies now depend on the internet for internal and external communications, however the web is not necessarily neutral. The multitude of company websites within the global system present varying linguistic, cultural and communication characteristics, which determine different experiences depending on the local culture of the user. The design of culturally appropriate websites is viewed as essential to communication, mainly for marketing. This article therefore aims at analysing the impact of cultural characteristics on web design and marketing communication. China presents a vast market and internet population, with specific cultural characteristics, and for these reasons is the subject chosen for study. The study develops a methodology based on an adaptation of Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural dimensions for purposes of analysing website content. The methodology makes it possible to measure the projection of underlying cultural characteristics in website design.The content analysis of 75 websites Chinese companies quoted on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock markets reveals that their design reflects local cultural characteristics. Furthermore, the analysis of the Chinese and English versions of the websites reveals that there the latter provide virtually no adaptation to an international clientele, particularly as concerns the indicators of Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance and Long Term Orientation
The investments in energy distribution networks: Does company ownership matter?
Full text linkThis paper revolves around the challenges currently tackled by the energy distribution sector, where infrastructural investments play a vital role in both increasing the industry’s internal efficiency and developing national economies. In natural gas and electricity sectors, the liberalisation process began in Europe at the end of the 1990s has triggered a change in the industry’s competitive framework, encouraging investments by companies aiming at improving their industrial and organisational efficiency. At the same time, liberalisation also brought about a change in the ownership of firms: Private and mixed ownership companies are now actively participating in the market, together with state-owned enterprises. In the light of these significant changes, this study is aimed at establishing whether the companies’ propensity to invest in infrastructures is connected with a specific form of ownership. So far, this specific topic has not been thoroughly investigated by empirical studies; this work tries to fill this gap by carrying out an empirical analysis on a sample of Italian energy distribution utilities operating in the natural gas and electricity sector
The Performance Assessment of Energy Companies
No full textIn the last two decades, in Europe and in Italy, the energy sector undergone a process of liberalization and opening up to competition that involved markets, institutions, companies and consumers. Liberalization has increased the environmental complexity of energy companies, shifting the priority of the management towards the formulation of strategies to gain market share and, at the same time, keep the old customers. The implemented strategies have been different depending on some company characteristics. In Italy, the geographical position has always influenced the company performances. Our paper aims to assess the economic and financial performances of companies, following the beginning of the liberalization process, focusing in particular on how geographical position have influenced the results
Benchmarking the efficiency of natural gas distribution utilities in Italy considering size, ownership, and maturity
No full textIn light of the reform of the Italian natural gas distribution introduced in 2007, this work performs a benchmarking and productivity analysis of distribution utilities, identifying the characteristics allowing greater efficiency. Using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), we analyse the performances of utilities and compares them in terms of size, ownership (public or private), and maturity (pre or post-liberalization establishment). The results show that the more efficient utilities are mainly publicly owned and pre-liberalization established. Small and medium-sized utilities operate less efficiently than large ones, revealing the scale inefficiency of the sector
Mergers and Acquisitions in the Energy Industry following the Market Liberalization: the Italian Case
No full textStarting from 1996 (electricity) and 1998 (gas), the first liberalisation directives in the European energy markets have slowly opened up new competitive scenarios. In Italy, the change in the regulatory framework, transposed during the 2000s, has deeply modified the industrial organization of the energy sector. In fact, the energy companies have implemented new competitive strategies in order to exploit the potential benefits arising from the new regulatory framework. In particular, many companies have carried out mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in order to achieve the benefits related to the exploitation of several potential synergies in economic, financial and organizational aspects.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the M&As carried out in the Italian energy industry in the five years following the market liberalization (2006-2010).
Furthermore, this paper investigates how the market structure has changed following the concentration of the energy retail sector. For this purpose, we apply the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index and the Concentration Ratio to estimate the market concentration in the electricity and gas retail sector
Benchmarking the efficiency of natural gas distribution utilities in Italy considering size, ownership, and maturity
No full textIn light of the reform of the Italian natural gas distribution introduced in 2007, this work performs a benchmarking and productivity analysis of distribution utilities, identifying the characteristics allowing greater efficiency. Using a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI), we analyse the performances of utilities and compares them in terms of size, ownership (public or private), and maturity (pre or post-liberalization establishment). The results show that the more efficient utilities are mainly publicly owned and pre-liberalization established. Small and medium-sized utilities operate less efficiently than large ones, revealing the scale inefficiency of the sector
Online corporate communication: Should national culture matter?
Full text linkIntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how the culture of a nation influences online corporate communication, focusing on the assessment of the culturability of business websites. Although the Internet constitutes a global phenomenon, cultural filters influence its use at the local level, ultimately determining a more or less favorable attitude toward a given website. Understanding and analysing the cultural adaptation of online communication is crucial as it has the potential to greatly influence how customers perceive and respond to the graphic and content elements. MethodsBuilding upon Hofestede's and Hall's theories, a content analysis technique was used to code the cultural markers and new indicators have been created to allow the association of the graphic elements and the contents of the websites with the cultural characteristics. The countries chosen as case studies are India and Australia, which present significant cultural differences and allow highlighting of the practical implications deriving from the cultural adaptation of the website design. ResultsThe results of this paper show that the company websites analyzed are designed to incorporate the cultural nuances of the target country. In particular, on the Australian websites, there is a greater frequency of cultural markers referring to individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance compared to Indian ones. On the contrary, Indian websites show more cultural markers referring to power distance, high context, and polychronic characteristics than Australian ones. This paper overcomes the qualitative approaches of the previous literature, developing new indicators for website analysis and providing a quantitative comparison with Hofstede and Hall frameworks. DiscussionThis work provides a guideline for companies, analysts, and the different professionals involved in online communication and web design. More specifically, they have to be aware of the cultural challenges when they operate outside the national boundaries, by designing a culturally usable website in one of the countries chosen for this study
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