Towards institutionalization of communication as a strategic function in organizations of Argentina, Lithuania and Spain

The BCG Matrix was introduced almost 50 years ago, and is today considered one of the most iconic strategic planning techniques. Using management fashion theory as a theoretical lens, this paper examines the historical rise, fall and persistence of the BCG Matrix. The analysis highlights the role played by fashion-setting actors (e.g., consultants, business schools and business media) in the rise of the BCG Matrix. However, over time, portfolio planning models such as the BCG Matrix were attacked and discredited by a host of different actors, and gradually fell out of favor. Even though the BCG Matrix has fallen from grace, it is still alive and has left an imprint on management education and practice. Despite being largely discredited in academic circles, many practitioners still view it as an important corporate portfolio planning technique.

Celebrity endorsement is the most used strategy since consumers value celebrities in advertisements. Organizations invest in celebrity endorsements in the expectation that they will enhance consumer perception of a product or service, evoke favorable attitudes toward a brand, influence purchase intentions, and eventually increase sales and profits through increased consumer preference for a product, brand, or service. This paper examines the effect of endorser characteristics on purchasing intentions in South Africa. The survey sampled South Africans residing in Gauteng Province. The Qualtrics questionnaire was completed by 145 respondents ranging in age from 18 to 55 and living in various areas of Gauteng Province. Given the research objective, the paper analyzed only responses from participants who stated that they had been exposed to celebrity-related adverts. The findings show that these respondents saw advertisements featuring celebrities. To evaluate the hypotheses, regression analysis was performed. The results reveal that consumer behavior, such as purchase intention, is influenced by attractiveness (β = .271; p < 0.05) and attitudes (β = .520; p < 0.05). However, in this study, expertise (β = .089; p > 0.05) and trustworthiness (β = –.095; p > 0.05) were not related to purchase intentions. Understanding celebrity endorser’s attributes can help organizations determine the most successful marketing strategies for attracting new customers and maintaining existing ones.

This paper examines the intricate link between unobservable characteristics of directors on the corporate board and firm performance. It aims to extend the literature on corporate governance and firm strategic performance from the perspective of emerging African economies. A mix of performance measures were used (Tobin Q, return on assets, and share price) and unobservable characteristics were captured as a stochastic element or heterogeneity of observable board characteristics (board activity, gender diversity, size, and independence). The study applied non-linear generalized auto-regressive conditional heteroscedasticity model to examine the data set consisting of 299 firm-year observations from 23 financial firms listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange from 2006 to 2018. Positive skewness and leptokurtic distribution were found for all the variables. Correlation matrix revealed no multicollinearity, as the highest value was 0.2386. Empirical results suggest that unobservable characteristics significantly and positively influence firm performance as measured by return on assets and share price. This is because the coefficient of the lagged-value of the variance scaling parameter is positive and significant at the 1% level. However, with respect to Tobin Q measure, the result was positive but not significant at the 5% level. Implicitly, the result is sensitive to performance proxies. Accordingly, this study concludes that unobservable characteristics drive firm performance. It is recommended that boards and regulators should pay attention to unobservable characteristics.