Managing Customer Perceptions of the Business Environment for Competitive Advantage
Predrag Basic
BA 656
01/16/2011
Article Critique: Managing customer perceptions of the business environment for competitive advantage
By: Toni Hilton, PhD Westminster Business School, UK and Warwick Jones, PhD University of the West of England, UK
Journal of Customer Behavior, 2010, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 265-281
Article Summary
Per Bendapudi and Berry, the environmental influences consumer behavior but does not influence consumers’ trust. Organizations have to research extent of how their marketing environment creates customers’ perceived behavior and also how individual factors of given environment add to that perception. While many other researchers and authors suggest that functional behavior requires perception of trust, authors of this article are suggesting that this may not be obsolete condition. Some organizational environments are more likely to result in dysfunctional or functional behaviors as a result of larger customer perception of dependency. If customer is perceiving dependence in continuity, competitive advantage is than probably gained through managing customer perceptions of the organizational environment to reduce perceptions of high dependency. This may then reduce the negative impact arising from dependence based dysfunctional behaviors. If customers exhibit functional behaviors when they perceive themselves to have a low dependency upon a service organization then the findings suggest practical steps that those organizations can take to influence customer perceptions of the business environment (Hilton&Jones, 2010).
Analysis
Hilton and Jones wrote this article because of the fact that customer perceptions of the organizational environment and its influence on customer behavior is an area that is not researched enough. Customer behavior is a concept of a response to perceptions of organizational environment and they are categorized as functional or dysfunctional behavior based on potential impact on the firm.
BA 656
01/16/2011
Article Critique: Managing customer perceptions of the business environment for competitive advantage
By: Toni Hilton, PhD Westminster Business School, UK and Warwick Jones, PhD University of the West of England, UK
Journal of Customer Behavior, 2010, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 265-281
Article Summary
Per Bendapudi and Berry, the environmental influences consumer behavior but does not influence consumers’ trust. Organizations have to research extent of how their marketing environment creates customers’ perceived behavior and also how individual factors of given environment add to that perception. While many other researchers and authors suggest that functional behavior requires perception of trust, authors of this article are suggesting that this may not be obsolete condition. Some organizational environments are more likely to result in dysfunctional or functional behaviors as a result of larger customer perception of dependency. If customer is perceiving dependence in continuity, competitive advantage is than probably gained through managing customer perceptions of the organizational environment to reduce perceptions of high dependency. This may then reduce the negative impact arising from dependence based dysfunctional behaviors. If customers exhibit functional behaviors when they perceive themselves to have a low dependency upon a service organization then the findings suggest practical steps that those organizations can take to influence customer perceptions of the business environment (Hilton&Jones, 2010).
Analysis
Hilton and Jones wrote this article because of the fact that customer perceptions of the organizational environment and its influence on customer behavior is an area that is not researched enough. Customer behavior is a concept of a response to perceptions of organizational environment and they are categorized as functional or dysfunctional behavior based on potential impact on the firm.
References: Journal of Customer Behavior, 2010, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 265-281. Retrieved from: Bellevue University Library on 01/15/2011. Kerin, A. Roger & Peterson, A. Robert (2010). Strategic Marketing Problems (12th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Bovee, C. L., Thill, J. V., & Mescon, M. H. (2007). Excellence in business (3rd ed.). New York: Pearson Prentice Hall.