Breaking the barriers of animosity: innovation in business models as a positioning strategy

Consumer animosity is often studied in the large economies of the world, in order to explain the negative feelings generated by an individual towards another country and its products, due to various political, economic and social conflicts. This study presents three specific developments in this field. First, to demonstrate how companies in the retail sector have been able to develop innovations in their business models through their shops and virtual channels, which generate a positive positioning in the mind of the consumer, capable of minimizing animosity towards them. In this way it is shown that a consumer can have strong feelings of patriotism, animosity and ethnocentrism, and yet a positive image towards a brand or product of the country with which the conflict takes place. Second, a contribution to literature regarding the scant research on consumer animosity in developing countries, and specifically in Latin America. Third, an analysis of animosity under a current context of conflict between countries, and not of studies carried out taking situations or facts from the past. In this way, a contribution is generated that allows to understand more the behavior of the consumer and his animosity in societies with emerging economies and as the innovations in business models allow to improve both the economic profitability of a company, as its brand image.