October 12, 2015 · 3:20 pm

Corporate Social Responsibility for Business and Educational Outcomes

trngExcerpt from one of my recent chapters, entitled;

“Re-conceiving Corporate Social Responsibility Programmes for Education”

 

During their learning journey, individuals acquire knowledge and skills that ought to be relevant for their career endeavours. The provision of quality education and its assurance is the responsibility of national governments. Yet, business and industry also offer training to human resources that supplements formal education. Very often, educators are expected to respond to challenging issues such as skill shortages and mismatches where candidates lack certain competencies although they attended compulsory education (Allen and De Weert, 2007). Their knowledge and skills may be too deep to bridge through corporate training sessions. Perhaps, there is an opportunity for global businesses to compensate for this deficiency in the education (Gibb, 1993). Corporations can shift their operations where it is viable for them to tap qualified employees. However, the constraints on their growth can be halted by the broad impact of inadequate education and training in some industries or regions. In this light, this chapter contends that big businesses may become key players in addressing unmet needs in education. Several companies have the resources and the political influence to help improve educational outcomes; which will in turn help them cultivate local talent. Leading businesses are already devising corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes that are actively supporting education across many contexts.

Therefore, this chapter redefines the private sector’s role in the realms of education. It posits that there are win-win opportunities for companies and national governments as they nurture human capital. Indeed, companies can create synergistic value for both business and society (Camilleri, 2015a). In the main, such a strategic approach may result in new business models and cross-sector collaborations that will inevitably lead to operational efficiencies, cost savings and significant improvements to the firms’ bottom lines (Pearce and Doh, 2012; Porter and Kramer, 2011). Notwithstanding, this contribution suggests that the businesses’ involvement in setting curricula may also help to improve the effectiveness of education systems in many contexts (Azevedo, Apfelthaler and Hurst, 2012; Seethamraju, 2012). Businesses can become key stakeholders in aligning educational programmes with their human capital requirements in the job market (Walker and Black, 2000). There is a possibility that their CSR programmes reconnect their economic success with societal progress.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resources Management

Many companies are gaining a high reputation in corporate social and responsibility. While the cause marketing of the past primarily targeted consumers in sales transactions, today’s cause marketing is often concerned with the company’s strongest ambassadors — its employees (Kotler and Lee, 2008). Undoubtedly, businesses are contributing to the well-being of their human resources and the surrounding communities. Yet, other firms may resort to CSR and greenwashing to generate publicity and positive impressions among stakeholders (Visser, 2011; Jahdi and Acikdilli, 2009). Many academics, argue that the most successful CSR strategy is to align a company’s social and environmental activities with its business purpose and values (Visser, 2011; Porter and Kramer, 2011). Responsible actions have the power to reconceive the organisations’ purpose and values toward society. The first step towards developing a CSR mentality is to re-define the principles of the company. Arguably, the role of senior management is crucial in instilling an ethos for genuine CSR behaviours among employees.

Businesses know that prospective employees consider a variety of factors as they evaluate careers. Some individuals value financial incentives, including salary, bonus potential and benefits (Gerhart and Fang, 2014; Bloom and Milkovich, 1998). Others may focus on professional development, advancement opportunities and location (Kehoe and Wright, 2013; Hunt and Michael, 1983). However, only recently multinational companies seem to realise that through CSR they can better engage with their employees (Bhattacharya, Sen and Korschun, 2008). Evidently, CSR can provide incentives to employees that may potentially be even more alluring than money (Branco and Rodrigues, 2006).

Socially Responsible HRM affects employee task performance and extra-role helping behaviour (Shen and Benson, 2014; Korschun, Bhattacharya and Swain, 2014). In fact, their empirical results indicated that CSR that is directed toward employees is an indirect predictor of individual task performance and extra-role helping behaviour. Another study by Deloitte (2004) has yielded very similar results. 72% of US respondents indicated that they would opt to work for a company that also supports charitable causes; if they had to choose between two jobs offering the same location, job description, pay, and benefits. According to this study, the majority of the youngest survey participants have indicated that their decision to work for their current employer was based on company culture or reputation (Pfeffer, 2007; Deloitte, 2004). Evidently, these respondents also valued the opportunities for growth and development as well as their salary and benefits package. This Deloitte study has indicated that the corporate social responsibility agenda will remain relevant for tomorrow’s business leaders. Apparently, the youths’ generic characteristics may bring distinct CSR behaviours (Pomering and Dolnicar, 2009). Young people often place high importance on making a positive impact on society. Very often, organisations are capitalising on corporate influence on social trends including sport activities (Smith and Westerbeek, 2007). Such a viewpoint could encourage an examination of the overlaps between the social responsibilities of sport and business.

These findings seem to suggest that employees want to belong to an organisation that stands for more than financial performance (Korschun et al., 2014; Vanhamme, Lindgreen, Reast and van Popering, 2012; Tang, Hull and Rothenberg, 2012). Employees are attracted by companies that are truly CSR-oriented. In addition, the businesses’ genuine intentions and goodwill can help to improve the brands’ image among stakeholders. Thus, even if employees do participate in CSR initiatives, they still want to be associated with an organisation that cares about its social impact (Shen and Benson, 2014). Therefore, it is in the companies’ self-interest to underline their CSR performance during events that are aimed to attract top talent. Apparently, more companies are realising that CSR is a great opportunity to engage with employees and to illustrate their commitment to the community at large.

 

Citation: Camilleri, M.A. (2015) Re-conceiving CSR Programmes for Education. In Vertigans, S. & Idowu, S.O., Corporate Social Responsibility: Academic Insights and Impacts, Springer (Forthcoming).

 

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October 12, 2015 · 2:14 pm

The ‘Creating Shared Value’ Proposition

The following is an excerpt from one of my latest contributions, entitled; “Corporate Social Responsibility: Theoretical Underpinnings and Conceptual Developments”

The concept of creating business value is not new to academia. Wheeler et al. (2003) came up with a simple framework for the creation of value. They reconciled the concepts of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development (or sustainability) with a stakeholder approach. They held that the reputational and brand value were good examples of intangible value. Although, they failed to relate reputation and branding to economic value over the long term, they came up with a business model in their value creation approach. Their sustainability model embraced the concepts of CSR, corporate citizenship and the stakeholder theory (Wheeler et al. 2003). In a similar vein, Porter and Kramer (2006) claimed that the solution for CSR lies in the principle of ‘shared value’. According to Porter and Kramer (2011), the businesses are in the best position to understand the true bases of their company productivity. It is in their interest to collaborate across profit and non-profit boundaries. Porter and Kramer (2011) gave relevant examples of how efficient processes are aimed at adding value to the firm and to society at large.

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(Porter and Kramer , 2011)

The authors explained that the creation of shared value focuses on identifying and expanding the connections between societal and economic progress. A shared value proposition requires particular areas of focus within the businesses’ context (workplace) as well as looking after society’s interests (comprising the environment, marketplace and the community) for the firm’s self-interest. The enterprise’s performance must be continuously monitored and evaluated in terms of its economic results. Creating Shared Value (CSV) is about embedding sustainability and corporate social responsibility into a brand’s portfolio. All business processes in the value chain (Porter, 1986) operate in an environmental setting within their wider community context. Porter and Kramer (2011) held that this new approach has set out new business opportunities as it created new markets, it improved profitability and has strengthened the competitive positioning. Crane and Matten (2011) admitted that Porter and Kramer (2011) have once again managed to draw the corporate responsibility issues into the corporate boardrooms. Crane and Matten (2011) had words of praise for the ‘shared value’ approach as they described the term as compelling and endearingly positive.

Elkington (2012) argued that sustainability should not be consigned to history by Shared Value. The author recognised that Porter and Kramer’s shared value proposition is undeniably a key step forward in corporate strategy. Yet he maintained that shared value can play a key role in destroying key resources, reducing the planet’s biodiversity and destabilising the climate. Then Elkington (2012) went on to say that Porter reduced corporate sustainability to resource efficiency. Eventually, Crane, Palazzo, Spence and Matten (2014) have also critiqued Porter and Kramer’s (2011) shared value proposition. They argued that this concept ignored the tensions that were inherent to responsible business activity. They went on to suggest that shared value is based on a shallow conception of the corporation’s role in society. Eventually, Porter and Kramer (2014) admitted that “shared value” cannot cure all of society’s ills as not all businesses are good for society nor would the pursuit of shared value eliminate all injustice. However, Porter and Kramer defended their (2011) proposition as they argued that they had used the profit motive and the tools of corporate strategy to address societal problems.

 

Citation: Camilleri, M.A. (2015) Corporate Social Responsibility: Theoretical Underpinnings and Conceptual Developments. In Vertigans, S. & Idowu, S.O., Stages of Corporate Social Responsibility: From Ideas to Impacts, Springer (Forthcoming)

 

References

Crane and Matten blog (2011). Url: http://craneandmatten.blogspot.com/ accessed on the 15th April 2012.

Crane, A., Palazzo, G., Spence, L. J., & Matten, D. (2014). Contesting the value of the shared value concept. California Management Review, 56, 2.

Elkington, J. (2012). Sustainability should not be consigned to history by Shared Value accessed on the 19th June 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/sustainability-with-john-elkington/shared-value-john-elkington-sustainability

Porter, M.E. (1986). Competition in Global Industries. Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R. (2006). Strategy and Society: The Link Between Competitive Advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility. Harvard Business Review, (December 2006), pp. 78-92.

Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R. (2011). Creating shared value: How to reinvent capitalism – and unleash a wave of innovation and growth. Harvard Business Review, (January/February), pp. 62-77.

Wheeler, D., Colbert, B. and Freeman, R.E., (2003). Focusing on value: Reconciling corporate social responsibility, sustainability and a stakeholder approach in a network world. Journal of General Management 28(3), pp. 1-28.

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September 4, 2015 · 7:55 pm

Google Scholar Citations of Mark Camilleri – University of Malta

@MarkCamilleri @Google #Scholar #Citations on #CSR #csrpolicy #esg #sharedvalue #stakeholderengagement #strategiccsr
https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=A5ihE60AAAAJ&hl=en

 

Selected References:

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility”, empirical paper was accepted by the American Marketing Association in collaboration with the University of Wyoming, Oklahoma State University and Villanova University during the Marketing & Public Policy as a Force for Social Change Conference which was held in Washington D.C., USA (5th June 2014). pp8-14, https://www.ama.org/events-training/Conferences/Documents/2015-AMA-Marketing-Public-Policy-Proceedings.pdf

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Content Marketing Metrics for Academic Impact”. In “Digital Tools for Academic Branding and Self-Promotion”. IGI Global (Forthcoming).

Camilleri M.A. (2015) “Responsible tourism that creates shared value among stakeholders”. Tourism Planning and Development. Taylor and Francis. DOI: 10.1080/21568316.2015.1074100 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2015.1074100

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Using Big Data for Customer-Centric Marketing”. In Handbook of Research on Open Data Innovations in Business and Government, IGI Global (Forthcoming).

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Nurturing Tourism Enterprises for Economic Growth and Competitiveness”. In Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and Tourism, Goodfellow Publishers (in Press) .

Camilleri, M.A (2015) “Environmental, Social and Governance Disclosures in Europe”. Sustainability Accounting, Management and Policy Journal 6 (2) pp.224 – 242 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/SAMPJ-10-2014-0065.

Camilleri, M.A. & Camilleri A. (2015) “Education and Social Cohesion for Economic Growth” International Journal of Leadership in Education pp1-15 (Forthcoming) DOI. 10.1080/13603124.2014.995721 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13603124.2014.995721?journalCode=tedl20#.VecYOH15p-U

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Valuing Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Reporting”. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 18 (3) pp210-222. DOI:10.1057/crr.2015.9 http://www.palgrave-journals.com/crr/journal/v18/n3/full/crr20159a.html

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “A Review of Theoretical Underpinnings on the CSR Agenda“. In Stages of Corporate Social Responsibility: From Ideas to Impacts, Springer (Forthcoming).

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Re-conceiving CSR Programmes for Education”. In Corporate Social Responsibility: Academic Insights and Impacts, Springer (Forthcoming).

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “CSR Reporting in Europe”. In Idowu, S. O. (Ed.) “Key CSR Initiatives from Around the World”, Springer: http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319216409 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-21641-6.

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “The Synergistic Value Notion” in Idowu, S.O.; Capaldi, N.; Fifka, M.; Zu, L.; Schmidpeter, R. (Eds). Dictionary of Corporate Social Responsibility. Springer http://www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+%28default%29/book/978-3-319-10535-2

Camilleri M.A. (2014) “Unlocking shared value through strategic social marketing” empirical paper was accepted by the American Marketing Association and the University of Massachusetts Amherst . It took part in a competitive paper session during the Marketing & Public Policy Conference which was held in Boston, USA (5-7th June 2014) https://www.ama.org/events-training/Conferences/Documents/MPP14BO_Proceedings.pdf

Camilleri M.A. & Camilleri, A. (2014) Digital Learning Resources for European Schools, ResearchGate; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268153218_Digital_Learning_Resources_for_European_Schools

Camilleri M.A. (2013)  “Creating Shared Value through Strategic CSR in Tourism”, Lambert Academic Publishing, Saarbrucken – Germany  ISBN 978-3-659-43106-7.

Camilleri M.A. (2013) “Advancing the Sustainable Tourism Agenda through Strategic CSR perspectives”. Tourism Planning and Development. 11 (1) pp42-56 Taylor and Francis  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21568316.2013.839470?journalCode=rthp21#.UnO5_lOzKwe

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September 2, 2015 · 2:50 pm

Responsible tourism that creates shared value among stakeholders

SV tourism

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2015.1074100

Abstract: This paper maintains that responsible tourism practices can be re-conceived strategically to confer competitive advantage. It looks at the extant literature surrounding the notions of “responsible tourism” and “shared value”. A qualitative research involved in-depth, semi-structured interview questions to discover the tourism and hospitality owner–managers’ ethos for responsible tourism. Secondly, telephone interviews were carried out with tourism regulatory officials. The findings have revealed that discretionary spending in socially and environmentally sound, responsible policies and initiatives can create shared value among tourism enterprises and their stakeholders. In a nutshell, this paper indicates that responsible tourism led to improved relationships with social and regulatory stakeholders, effective human resources management, better market standing, operational efficiencies and cost savings, along with other benefits.

To cite this article:

M. A. Camilleri (2015): Responsible tourism that creates shared value among stakeholders, Tourism Planning & Development, DOI: 10.1080/21568316.2015.1074100

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August 15, 2015 · 4:52 pm

Unleashing Corporate Social Responsibility through Digital Media

csr

Companies are increasingly focusing their attention on content and inbound marketing. In a nutshell, content marketing necessitates an integrated marketing communications approach involving different media (1). Content strategists and marketers who care about their online reputation are realising that they have to continuously come up with fresh, engaging content with a growing number of quality links. They have to make sure that their websites offer great content for different search engines. Consistent high quality content ought to be meaningful and purposeful for target audiences (2).

Successful marketers are capable of enhancing customer loyalty, particularly if their businesses are delivering ongoing value propositions to promising prospects (on their website). Such businesses are continuously coming up with informative yet interesting content through digital channels, including blogs, podcasts, social media networking and e-newsletters. Online content often include refreshing information which tell stakeholders how to connect the dots. It may appear that many companies are becoming quite knowledgeable in using social media channels to protect their reputation from bad publicity or misinformation.

Several online businesses often tell insightful stories to their customers or inspire them with sustainable ideas and innovations. Corporate web sites could even contain their latest news, elements of the marketing-mix endeavours as well as digital marketing fads.
Most social media networks are effective monitoring tools as they could feature early warning signals of trending topics (3). These networks may help business communicators and marketers identify and follow the latest sustainability issues. Notwithstanding, CSR influencers are easily identified on particular subject matters or expertise. For example, businesses and customers alike have also learned how to use the hashtag (#) to enhance the visibility of their shareable content (4). Some of the most popular hashtags comprise: #CSR #StrategicCSR, #sustainability, #susty, #CSRTalk, #Davos2015, #KyotoProtocol, #SharedValue et cetera. Hashtags could possibly result in financial support to charity, philanthropic or stewardship principles. They may even help to raise awareness of the overall CSR communications. Hence, there are numerous opportunities for businesses to leverage themselves through social networks as they engage with influencers and media.

  • The ubiquity of Facebook and Google Plus over the past years has made them familiar channels for many individuals around the globe. These networks have become very popular communication outlets for brands, companies and activists alike. These social media empower their users to engage with business on a myriad of issues. They also enable individual professionals or groups to promote themselves and their CSR credentials in different markets and segments.
  • Moreover, Linkedin is yet another effective tool, particularly for personal branding. However, this social network helps users identify and engage with influencers. Companies can use this site to create or join their favourite groups on LinkedIn (e.g. GRI, FSG, Shared Value Initiative among others). They may also use this channel for CSR communication as they promote key initiatives and share sustainability ideas. Therefore, LinkedIn connects individuals and groups as they engage in conversations with both academia and CSR practitioners.
  • In addition, Pinterest and Instagram enable their users to share images, ideas with their networks. These social media could also be relevant in the context of the sustainability agenda. Businesses could illustrate their CSR communication to stakeholders through visual content. Evidently, these innovative social networks provide sharable imagery, infographics or videos to groups who may be passionate on certain issues, including CSR.
  • Moreover, digital marketers are increasingly uploading short, fun videos which often turn viral on internet (5). Youtube, Vimeo and Vine seem to have positioned themselves as important social media channels for many consumers, particularly among millennials. These sites offer an excellent way to humanise or animate  SR communication through video content. These digital media also allow their users to share their video content across multiple networks. For instance, videos featuring university resources may comprise lectures, documentaries, case studies and the like.

CSR practices may provide a good opportunity for businesses to raise their profile in the communities around them.  Genuine businesses communicate their motives and rationales behind their CSR programmes. In this case, there are numerous media outlets where businesses can obtain decent coverage of their CSR initiatives, especially on the web (e.g. CSRwire and Triple Pundit among others). Although, there are instances  where consumers themselves, out of their own volition are becoming ambassadors of trustworthy businesses; at the same time certain stakeholders are becoming increasingly acquainted and skeptical on certain posturing behaviours and greenwashing (6).

Generally, digital communications will help to improve the corporate image of firms. Positive publicity can lead to reputational benefits and long lasting relationships with stakeholders (7). Online content and inbound marketing can be successfully employed for CSR communication1. Corporate sites should be as easy as possible, with user-centred design that enables interactive information sharing on CSR activities. Inter-operability and collaboration across different social media can help businesses to connect with stakeholders (1). 

Marketers can create a forum where prospects or web visitors can engage with the business in real time. These days, marketing is all about keeping and maintaining a two-way relationship with consumers. Digital marketing is an effective tool for consumer engagement.

A growing number of businesses are learning how to collaborate with consumers about product development, service enhancement and promotion. These companies are increasingly involving customers in all aspects of marketing. They listen to and join online conversations as they value their stakeholders’ opinions and perceptions.

Today, pervasive social media networks are being used by millions of customers every day. In a sense, it may appear that digital marketing tools have reinforced the role of public relations. These promotional strategies complement well with CSR communication and sustainability reporting.

This contribution encourages businesses to use digital media to raise awareness of their societal engagement and environmentally sustainable practices. Further research may possibly identify how successful businesses are using digital channels to forge genuine relationships with their stakeholders.

References

  1. Camilleri, M.A. “Unleashing Shared Value Through Content Marketing.” Triple Pundit, 10th February 2014. http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/02/unleashing-shared-value-content-marketing/
  2. Camilleri, M.A. “A Search Engine Optimization Strategy for Content Marketing Success.” Social Media Today 28th May, 2014. http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/search-engine-optimization-strategy-content-marketing-success
  3. Kietzmann, Jan H., Kristopher Hermkens, Ian P. McCarthy, and Bruno S. Silvestre. “Social media? Get serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media.” Business horizons 54, no. 3 (2011): 241-251.
  4. Small, Tamara A. “What the hashtag? A content analysis of Canadian politics on Twitter.” Information, Communication & Society 14, no. 6 (2011): 872-895.
  5. Guadagno, Rosanna E., Daniel M. Rempala, Shannon Murphy, and Bradley M. Okdie. “What makes a video go viral? An analysis of emotional contagion and Internet memes.” Computers in Human Behavior 29, no. 6 (2013): 2312-2319.
  6. Laufer, William S. “Social accountability and corporate greenwashing.” Journal of Business Ethics 43, no. 3 (2003): 253-261.
  7. Camilleri, M.A. “The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility” (paper presented at the American Marketing Association in collaboration with the University of Wyoming, Oklahoma State University and Villanova University: Marketing & Public Policy as a Force for Social Change Conference. Washington D.C., 5th June 2014): 8-14, Accessed June 26, 2015. https://www.ama.org/events-training/Conferences/Documents/2015-AMA-Marketing-Public-Policy-Proceedings.pdf

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August 4, 2015 · 6:06 am

Valuing Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Reporting

This conceptual paper has been accepted for publication by Corporate Reputation Review http://www.palgrave-journals.com/crr/journal/v18/n3/full/crr20159a.html

This conceptual paper sheds light on some of the major intergovernmental benchmarks, guidelines and principles for corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate governance and sustainability reporting. It reports on several governments’ regulatory roles as their societal governance is intrinsically based on interdependent relationships. There are different actors and drivers who are shaping CSR communications and policies in relational frameworks. This paper mentions some of the countries that have already introduced intelligent substantive and reflexive regulations. It also shows how certain businesses are stepping in with their commitment for sustainability issues as they set their own policies and practices for laudable organisational behaviours. Very often, corporate businesses use non-governmental organisations’ regulatory tools such as process and performance-oriented standards. These regulatory instruments focus on issues such as labour standards, human rights, health and safety, environmental protection, corporate governance and the like. Afterwards, this paper discusses about the relationship between governance and sustainability. It makes reference to some of the relevant European Union Expert Group recommendations for non-financial reporting and CSR audits. Relevant academic contributions are indicating that customers are expecting greater disclosures, accountability and transparency in sustainability reports. This contribution contends that the way forward is to have more proactive governments that raise the profile of CSR. It maintains that CSR communications and stakeholder engagement may bring shared value to business and society. Ultimately, it is in the businesses’ interest to implement corporate sustainability and responsibility and to forge fruitful relationships with key stakeholders, including the regulatory ones, in order to address societal, environmental, governance and economic deficits.

Citation:

Camilleri, M.A. (2015) “Valuing Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Reporting”. Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 18 (3) 210-222.

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July 17, 2015 · 7:32 pm

Crunching Big Data and Analytics from Web2.0

social media

The use of data and its analyses are becoming ubiquitous practices. As a result, there has been a dramatic surge in the use of business intelligence and analytics. These developments have inevitably led to endless opportunities for marketers to leverage themselves and gain a competitive advantage by untangling big data. Relevant data could help businesses to better serve customers as they would better know what they need, want and desire. This knowledge will lead to customer satisfaction and long lasting relationships.

Businesses are increasingly collecting and analysing data from many sources for many purposes. Much of the value of data is derived from secondary uses that were not intended in the first place. Very often datasets can possess intrinsic, hidden, not-yet-unearthed value. According to a research from IBM and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford; nearly nine in 10 companies were using transactional data, and three-quarters were collecting log data in 2012. This study suggested that business practitioners also gathered data from events, emails and social data (eMarketer, 2012).

This data is being collected and stored in massive amounts by search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo as well as by e-commerce conglomerates such as eBay and Amazon. For instance, Security First boosted its productivity and customer satisfaction by using content analytics to bridge social media and the claims process. Similarly, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has improved its online reputation with analytics that quickly responded to online feedback (IBM, 2015).

In addition, users can easily access multiple sources of digital data that is readily available through websites, social networks, blogs, as well as from mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets. Big data is being gathered from social media content and video data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus among others. These modern digital marketing tools are helping business to engage in social conversations with consumers. Social networks have surely amplified the marketers’ messages as they support promotional efforts. Here are some of the unique pieces of data each social network is collecting:

  • “Facebook’s interest/social graph: The world’s largest online community collects more data via its API than any other social network. Facebook’s “like” button is pressed 2.7 billion times every day across the web, revealing what people care about.
  • Google+’s relevance graph: The number of “+1s” and other Google+ data are now a top factor in determining how a Web page ranks in Google search results.
  • LinkedIn’s talent graph: At least 22% of LinkedIn users have between 500-999 first-degree connections on the social network, and 19% have between 301-499.The rich professional data is helping LinkedIn build a “talent graph.”
  • Twitter’s news graph: At its peak late last year the social network was processing 143,199 tweets per second globally. This firehose of tweets provide a real-time window into the news and information that people care about. Fifty-two percent of Twitter users in the U.S. consume news on the site (more than the percent who do so on Facebook), according to Pew.
  • Pinterest’s commerce graph: More than 17% of all pinboards are categorized under “Home,” while roughly 12% fall under style or fashion, these are windows into people’s tastes and fashion trends.
  • YouTube’s entertainment graph: What music, shows, and celebrities do we like? YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18 to 34 than any single cable network, according to Nielsen. YouTube knows what they like to watch.
  • Yelp’s and Foursquare’s location graphs: These apps know where we’ve been and where we’ll go. Foursquare has over 45 million users and 5 billion location check-ins” (Business Insider, 2014).

Big data is fundamentally shifting how marketers collect, analyse and utilise data to reach out to customers. Business intelligence and analytics are helping companies to get new insights into how consumers behave. It is envisaged that the IT architecture will shortly develop into an information eco-system: a network of internal and external services where information is shared among users. Big data can support business in their decision making. It could be used to communicate meaningful results and to generate insights for an effective organisational performance. New marketing decision-making ought to harness big data for increased targeting and re-targeting of individuals and online communities. On-demand, direct marketing through digital platforms has already become more personalised than ever. The challenge for marketers is to recognise the value of big data as a tool that drives consumer in-sights.

Every customer contact with a brand is a moment of truth, in real-time. Businesses who are not responding with seamless externally-facing solutions will inevitably lose their customers to rivals. This contribution posits that a strategic approach to data management could drive consumer preferences. An evolving analytics ecosystem that is also integrated with web2.0 instruments could lead to better customer service and consumer engagement.

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July 16, 2015 · 10:08 am

Evaluating big data and predictive analytics

bigdata

The use of business intelligence and marketing information systems has expanded in recent years. Through advancements in technologies, marketers can extract value from very large data sets. Very often, companies can benefit if they use and reuse the same data to extract added value from it. Sometimes, it would also make sense for these companies to acquire data that they do not own (or data that was not collected).

All individuals leave a “digital trail” of data as they move about in the virtual and physical worlds. This phenomenon is called, “data exhaust”. Initially, this term was used to describe how Amazon.com used predictive analytics in order to suggest items for its customers. Predictive analytics could quantify the likelihood that a particular person will do something — whether it is defaulting on a loan, upgrading to a higher level of cable service or seeking another job. Such data anticipates human behaviours that have not happened as yet. For instance, Fedex has predicted which customers were most likely to defect to competitors. Even, Hewlett-Packard made a good use of suitable data to identify employees that were on the brink to leave the company. The latter corporation took remedial decisions in anticipation of staff turnover.

Predictive data is usually based on large amounts of cur¬rent and past indicative information that may have been collected from multiple sources. Such data could also provide additional details of customer personas, segments and prospects. Quantitative techniques can be deployed to find valuable patterns in data, enabling companies to predict the likely behaviour of customers, employees and others. First Tennessee Bank had used predictive analytics to increase its marketing response rate by better targeting its offers to high-value customers (IBM, 2015). Through predictive analytics businesses’ could quantify how many consumers will buy their products after receiving electronic mail. They may also measure how effective their personal mailing was.

Nowadays there are fewer inaccuracies in the measurement of big data. In addition, many applications of data can arise far from the purposes for which the data was originally intended. However, big data and predictive analytics could raise a number of concerns. Minor increases in the data accuracy of predictions can often lead substantial savings in the long term. There many companies that have saved significant financial resources by using predictive analytics. For instance, “Chickasaw Nation has used predictive and patron analytics to reduce its month-end close processes by 50%. This way it has also improved customer experience. In a similar vein, predictive tools and smart cards enabled Singapore Land Transit Authority to provide a more convenient transportation system.

Although, individuals tend to regularly repeat their habitual behaviours, pre¬dictive analytics cannot determine when and why they may decide to change their future preferences. The possibility of “one off” events must never be discounted. Many customers may be wary of giving their data due to privacy issues. The underlying question is; when does personalisation become an issue of consumer protection? In 2012, consumers learned that Target was using quantitative methods to predict which customers were pregnant. Very often, advances in technology are faster than legislation and its deployment. These issues could advance economic and privacy concerns that regulators will find themselves hard-pressed to ignore. It may appear that digital market manipulation is pushing the limits of consumer protection law.

Evidently, society has built up a body of rules that are aimed to protect personal information. Another contentious issue is figuring out the value of data and its worth in monetary terms. In the past, companies could have struggled to determine the value of their business; including patents, trade secrets and other intellectual property.

Despite its numerous pitfalls, the market is responding to the emerging demands for corporate IT solutions. Extant relational databases are capable of handling a wide variety of big data sources. Statistical analytical packages are similarly evolving and are working in conjunction with these new data platforms, data types and algorithms. Furthermore, big data is also being modified for those clients that may require cloud-based services. Cloud-based service providers offer on-demand pricing with a fast reconfiguration facility.

This short contribution suggests that in the foreseeable future many corporations would require bespoken software that is relevant for their particular line of business. Customised business intelligence software and big data systems allow organisations to load, store and query massive data sets in short time periods. Business could make good use of structured data (such as demographics) and unstructured information (including text and images) to improve their operational performance and customer service levels.

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