Journal of Marketing and Market Studies 05/2022

The purpose of this article is to introduce one of the less popular areas of socially responsible activities, namely fair operating practices. The author presents the principles of this activity and describes specific practices that may be undertaken within this framework. Additionally, the author attempts to assess the activity in the area of fair operating practices among businesses operating in Poland. The analysis of companies' activities in this area seems to be particularly important, as this area concerns companies' behaviors on the market, shaping relations with other entities and developing fair competition. Activities in the area of fair operating practices also build a positive image of the organization among all stakeholders. The results of the Responsible Business in Poland reports for the years 2011–2020 have been used for the assessment. The analysis has shown that Polish organizations are still not very interested in activities in this area.

The aim of the article is to demonstrate, on the basis of the results of the analysis and critical evaluation of the selected literature, that innovative activity, like any functional area of an enterprise, should be covered by systemic management based on knowledge and model solutions developed by science proposed in this publication. The following research methods were used to achieve this goal: cognitive-critical analysis of the selected literature on the subject, the descriptive and comparative method, and the projection method used to develop one's own definition of innovation, innovation management as well as to develop a process-based innovation management model. The listed elements that determine the originality of the publication. The importance of the subject matter discussed in the article is important both in the context of the functioning of marketing units in the company itself, as well as in the context of shaping new relations with market elements, especially in the field of: i) systemic acquisition of market information and its processing for the needs of information and decision-making processes and the innovative processes themselves, ii) shaping mutual, partner relations with market institutions and individual clients, conducive to the systemic acquisition of external knowledge for the needs of the processes of creating and implementing innovations.

Aim: To identify an image of Jeep automotive brand on a basis of a questionnaire research and comparing it with the state of the art achievable in scientific works.

Design and methods: A questionnaire research was carried out on a sample sized 56 — Jeep vehicles users or customers interested in purchasing them. In the results analysis, both quantitative and qualitative approach was used. In the quantitative analysis frequency of appearance as well as associations and affinities between attributes were examined. Also a comparative analysis of the results obtained from the empirical research with these published by other authors was performed.

Conclusions: A hypothesis was verified, according to which the image of the brand Jeep matches the one described in scientific works. On a basis of the empirical research results analysis it was stated that the brand Jeep is associated mostly with off road, big cars from the US, additionally characterized by high level of quality. In general this matches the results obtained be other researchers. Still, some discrepancies also occur, e.g. recognizing the brand as a family one, or identifying Jeep cars as SUVs. What is more, very few associations with freedom, adventure or outdoor were noticed, which are so clearly visible in brand's identity message. Also rare are associations with the rough, military character of the brand which reaches its roots.

Managerial implications: An information concerning attributes adding up to the Jeep brand image was obtained. This is the brand image in consumers' minds. On this basis one can suggest taking up marketing activities (promotional and others) aiming at creating the brand image more precisely reflecting the intentions of the brand owner.

Limitations: Limited sample size in the empirical research as well as limited scope of the questionnaire. The structure of the sample was not examined. The research should be treated as a pilot one.