Brand portfolio, corporate image, and reputation: Managing brand deletions

Brand portfolio management addresses, among other issues, the interrelated questions of what brands to add, retain, or delete. A small number of brands in a firm’s brand portfolio can often have a disproportionately large positive or negative impact on its image and reputation and the responses of stakeholders. Brand deletions can be critical from the standpoint of a firm being able to free up resources to redeploy toward enhancing the competitive standing and financial performance of brands in its portfolio with the greatest potential to positively affect its image and reputation. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on the organizational and environmental drivers of brand deletion propensity, the predisposition of a firm to delete a particular brand from its brand portfolio. The authors propose a conceptual model delineating the drivers of brand deletion propensity and suggest directions for future research, including the related concept of brand deletion intensity. Rajan Varadarajan (varadarajan@tamu.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Marketing and holder of the Ford Chair in Marketing and E-Commerce in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. His primary teaching and research interest is in the area of strategy. His research on strategy has been published in theJournal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAcademy of Management Journal, theStrategic Management Journal, and other journals. Rajan served as editor of theJournal of Marketing from 1993 to 1996 and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science from 2000 to 2003. He currently serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Interactive Marketing and other journals. He is a recipient of a number of honors and awards, including the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Marketing Educator Award (2003), the American Marketing Association Mahajan Award for Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy (2003), and the Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in Research (1994). Mark P. DeFanti (mdefanti@tamu.edu) is a doctoral student in marketing at Texas A&M University. He received his M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and his B.A. from Amherst College. His current research interests include brand portfolio management, corporate name changes, and business-to-business branding. His teaching interests include advertising, brand management, and marketing strategy. Paul S. Busch (p-busch@tamu.edu) is a professor of marketing in the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Decision Sciences, theJournal of Business Research, andBusiness Horizons. He serves on the editorial review boards of theJournal of Business-to-Business Marketing, theAsian Journal of Marketing, andMarketing Management. His research interests include buyer-seller relationships, business-to-business branding, and brand portfolio management. His teaching interests include promotional strategy and new product development.     

Consumer evaluations of corporate brand redeployments

There has been little attention paid to the management of corporate brand names as part of the merger and acquisition process. As an initial step towards developing a better understanding of this brand redeployment decision the authors consider the reactions of one important stakeholder group—consumers—to alternative strategies. Specifically, the authors discuss the importance of the corporate branding decision in the M&A process and present a typology of alternative redeployment strategies as well as an exploratory study examining reactions to different postmerger branding strategies. The authors find evidence that the brand equity related to corporate brands is often decreased as a result of M&A activities and that individuals react differently to mergers employing different redeployment strategies. These results emphasize the need for firms to evaluate the corporate branding component of M&A activities as part of the process of managing corporate brands and should generate interest and research in this managerially relevant area. Anupam Jaju (ajaju@gmu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia at Athens. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Management, Marketing Theory, andMarketing Education Review. His current research focuses primarily on exploring three interrelated domains of business: the link between corporate and functional (marketing) strategy, the market orientation of corporate strategies, and the market and customer-related consequences of corporate strategy. Christopher Joiner (cjoiner@gmu.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Srinivas K. Reddy (sreddy@terry.uga.edu) is the Robert O. Arnold Professor of Marketing and the director of the Coca-Cola Center for Marketing Studies at the Terry College of Business, University of Georgia. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He has taught previously at New York University, Columbia University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a visiting professor at Stanford Business School. His research on brand and marketing strategy and has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Letters, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Business Research. His current research interests include the financial and marketing impacts of brand failure and understanding the value of creative products such fine art.     

Brand-extension price premiums: The effects of perceived fit and extension product category risk

One of the assumed benefits of extending a strong brand into a new product category is the ability to capture a price premium relative to comparable products associated with lower equity brands. The authors argue that brand-extension price premiums accrue in part due to the ability of a known brand to reduce the perceived risk customers experience in making purchase decisions. Accordingly, price premiums can be expected to vary depending on the risk associated with a purchase decision. The authors manipulated perceived fit between a brand and extension products and three dimensions of extension product category risk. They found that brand-extension price premiums are positively related to the perceived fit between the brand and the extension category. However, this relationship varies considerably depending on the levels of financial and social risk associated with the extension product category. Implications of these findings for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. Devon DelVecchio (devond@uky.edu) is an assistant professor of marketing in the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky. His research focuses on pricing, promotions, and brand management. His work has appeared in journals such as theJournal of Product and Brand Management and theJournal of Consumer Affairs. Daniel C. Smith (dansmith@indiana.edu) is the Clare W. Barker Chair in Marketing and Interim Dean at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His current research focuses on brand and product management, and marketing strategy. His work has appeared in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Harvard Business Review, theJournal of Advertising Research, andStrategic Management Journal, among others. He serves on the Editorial Board of theJournal of Marketing and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and received Outstanding Reviewer awards at both. He also serves on the Editorial Board of theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.     

The role of brand personality in charitable giving: An assessment and validation

Marketing concepts such as corporate identity, image, and branding are important strategies for nonprofit organizations. In particular, brand personality has been advocated by practitioners but has not been empirically investigated in the nonprofit context. According to social exchange theory and trust, the authors argue that nonprofit stakeholders perceive nonprofit organizations at an abstract level because of the organizations’ intangibility and social ideals. This study develops and refines a parsimonious measure of brand personality specifically for the nonprofit context. The authors conduct a series of six multimethod studies of nonprofit stakeholders to validate the role of brand personality in nonprofit organizations. The results yield four dimensions of brand personality for nonprofits: integrity, nurturance, sophistication, and ruggedness. Thus, current and potential donors ascribe personality traits to nonprofit organizations and differentiate between nonprofits on the basis of the organizations’ personality. Finally, nonprofit brand personality may influence potential donors’ likelihood to contribute. Beverly T. Venable (venable_beverly@colstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Mississippi) is an assistant professor of marketing at Columbus State University. Her research interests are in nonprofit marketing, branding, and ethics. She has published in theJournal of Business Ethics and several national and international proceedings. Gregory M. Rose (rosegm@u.washington.edu; Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Washington, Tacoma. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology, as well as other journals and proceedings. Victoria D. Bush (vbush@bus.olemiss.edu; Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include cultural diversity in buyer-seller relationships, advertising ethics, and Internet marketing. Her research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andIndustrial Marketing Management, as well as other journals and proceedings. Faye W. Gilbert (faye.gilbert@gcsu.edu; Ph.D., University of North Texas) is a professor of marketing and dean of the J. Whitney Bunting School of Business at Georgia College and State University. Her research interests are in customer relationship management, health care marketing, and sales management. She has published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Retailing, Psychology and Marketing, as well as other journals and proceedings.     

A scale for measuring attitude toward private label products and an examination of its psychological and behavioral correlates

A measure of consumers’ attitude toward private label brands is developed, and its psychometric properties are assessed. Predictions are then tested regarding relationships between private label attitude and (1) latent perceptual and sales promotion constructs, and (2) purchase behaviors measured in a field setting. The measure is positively related to value consciousness, deal proneness, and smart-shopper self-perceptions, and negatively related to the propensity to be brand loyal and hold price-quality perceptions. Predictive validity of the private label measure is supported by a positive relationship with private label purchases from a grocery store shopping trip. Despite a positive relationship between the latent constructs of private label attitude and deal proneness, the consumer segment that allocated a high percentage of total purchases to private label products made fewer purchases on sale or with a coupon. These findings suggest that consumers may choose between price-related deals and private label purchases. Scot Burton is professor and Wal-Mart chairholder in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. His research interests include public policy and consumer welfare concerns, consumer price and promotion perceptions, and survey research measurement issues. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Public Opinion Quarterly, theJournal of Applied Psychology, and others. Donald R. Lichtenstein is a professor in the Department of Maketing at the University of Colorado. His research interests include consumer processing of price and sales promotion information and consumer welfare issues related to marketplace choice. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and others. Richard G. Netemeyer is a professor in the Department of Marketing, E. J. Ourso College of Business Administration at Louisiana State University (LSU). He received his Ph.D. in business administration from the University of South Carolina in 1986. Since then, he has been a member of the marketing faculty at LSU. His research interests include measurement and scaling, public policy, maladaptive behaviors, and consumer behavior in general. His research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and others. He is also a member of the editorial review boards of theJournal of Consumer Research and theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing. Judith A. Garretson is a Ph. D. candidate in the Department of Marketing and Transportation at the University of Arkansas. Her research interests include promotion issues and public policy and consumer welfare. her work has appeared in theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Professional Services Marketing, and proceedings of the American Marketing Association and Association for Consumer Research.     

Contracts, norms, and plural form governance

The organization of interfirm exchanges has become of critical importance in today’s business environment. Many scholars have criticized the inadequacies of legal contracts as mechanisms for governing exchange, especially in the face of uncertainty and dependence. Other scholars argue that it is not the contracts per se but the social contexts in which they are embedded that determine their effectiveness. This study investigates the performance implications of governance structures involving contractual agreements and relational social norms, individually and in combination (plural form) under varying conditions and forms of transactional uncertainty and relationship-specific adaptation. Hypotheses are developed and tested on a sample of 396 buyer-seller relationships. The results provide support for the plural form thesis—increasing the relational content of a governance structure containing contractual agreements enhances performance when transactional uncertainty is high, but not when it is low. Implications for theory and future research are discussed. Joseph P. Cannon (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) is an assistant professor of marketing at Colorado State University. His areas of research interest include the effective management of business-to-business buyer-seller relationships in domestic and international markets. His research has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theAcademy of Management Review, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing. Ravi S. Achrol (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is a professor of marketing and global management research professor in the School of Business and Public Administration at George Washington University. Prior to joining George Washington University in 1991, he served for 10 years on the faculty of the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interests include interorganization theory and marketing strategy. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Social Science Research, theJournal of Business Strategy, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, and various other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing. Gregory T. Gundlach (Ph.D. J.D. University of Tennessee) is an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration at the University of Notre Dame. His areas of research interest include theories of exchange governance, industrial organization, and antitrust policy. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Antitrust Bulletin, and other publications. He is a member of the Editorial Review Board of theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Public Policy & Marketing, and theJournal of Retailing.     

The role of affect in attitude formation: A classical conditioning approach

This study investigates the role of affect in attitude formation. Two experiments, using established conditioning procedures, assessed the impact of affect on attitude formation. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that affect can influence attitudes even in the absence of product beliefs. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that affect plays as important or more important a role than the belief mechanism in attitude formation, depending on the number of repetitions. Implications of the results for understanding the role of affect in advertising are discussed. John Kim is an associate professor of marketing in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University. He earned his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include consumer decision making, advertising effectiveness, and brand equity. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of Business Research. Jeen-Su Lim is Interim Chair and a professor of marketing at the University of Toledo. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Indiana University. His work has appeared in many journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Management International Review, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Health Care Marketing, among others. His research interests include consumer inference processes, new product development and competitive strategy, and export marketing. Mukesh Bhargava is an assistant professor in the Department of Marketing and Management at Oakland University. He has a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Texas, Austin, and several years of practical experience in advertising and marketing research. His research includes areas such as advertising effectiveness and evaluation of marketing strategy in business and nonprofit organizations. His work has appeared in theJournal of Advertising Research, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others.     

Customer value,satisfaction, loyalty,and switching costs: An illustration from a business-to-business service context

Although researchers and managers pay increasing attention to customer value, satisfaction, loyalty, and switching costs, not much is known about their interrelationships. Prior research has examined the relationships within subsets of these constructs, mainly in the business-to-consumer (B2C) environment. The authors extend prior research by developing a conceptual framework linking all of these constructs in a business-to-business (B2B) service setting. On the basis of the cognition-affect-behavior model, the authors hypothesize that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between customer value and customer loyalty, and that customer satisfaction and loyalty have significant reciprocal effects on each other. Furthermore, the potential interaction effect of satisfaction and switching costs, and the quadratic effect of satisfaction, on loyalty are explored. The authors test the hypotheses on data obtained from a courier service provider in a B2B context. The results support most of the hypotheses and, in particular, confirm the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Shun Yin Lam (asylam@ntu.edu.sg; fax: 65-6791-3697) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Lam received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario and has research interests in a number of areas including retail marketing, customer loyalty, and customers’ adoption and usage of technology. His work has appeared inMarketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar (vshankar@rhsmith.umd.edu) is Ralph J. Tyser Fellow and an associate professor of marketing in the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His areas of research are e-business, competitive strategy, international marketing, pricing, new product management, and supply chain management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theStrategic Management Journal, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andMarketing Letters. he is co-editor of theJournal of Interactive Marketing; associate editor ofManagement Science; and serves on the editorial boards ofMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Academy of Marketing Science. He is a three-time winner of the Krowe Award for Outstanding Teaching and teaches Marketing Management, Digital Business Strategy, Competitive Marketing Strategy, and International Marketing (http://www.venkyshankar.com). M. Krishna Erramilli (amkerramilli@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has undertaken many studies on marketing strategy issues in service firms, particularly in an international context, and has published his work in journals like theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, theColumbia Journal of World Business, and theJournal of Business Research. He has presented numerous papers at international conferences. His current research interests center on the international expansion of Asia-based service firms. Bvsan Murthy (abmurthy@ntu.edu.sg) is an associate professor of marketing and international business in the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Prior to turning to the academe a decade ago, he had 20 years of international industry experience. He has published in journals likeThe Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly and theInternational Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and has also written industry white papers/monographs and chapters in books. His current research interests center on strategic services marketing/management and customer value management.     

Re-examining salesperson goal orientations: Personality influencers, customer orientation, and work satisfaction

Several scholars have noted the importance of relationship marketing and the critical role that salesperson knowledge plays in the formation of buyer-seller relationships. However, research on salesperson learning motivations has been relatively scarce compared with research on firm-level learning orientations. One promising stream of research in this area is salesperson goal orientation. Drawing from previous work in control theory, the authors extend previous research in this area by proposing relationships between personality influencers, goal orientations, customer/selling orientation, and overall work satisfaction. Their hypotheses are tested using data obtained from a sample of 190 real estate agents. The results provide support for their hypothesized model. Specifically, learning orientation is shown to positively influence customer orientation, while performance orientation is shown to positively influence selling orientation. Eric G. Harris (eharris@lklnd.usf.edu Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of South Florida. His current research interests include goal orientation, customer orientation, and personality models applied to consumer and employee behavior. He has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Psychology & Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Marketing, theJournal of Business & Psychology, Services Marketing Quarterly, theJournal of Services Marketing, and theJournal of Marketing Management. John C. Mowen (jcmmkt@okstate.edu) Ph.D., Arizona State University) is Regents Professor and holds the Noble Chair of Marketing Strategy at Oklahoma State University. He has published articles in numerous leading journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Decisions Sciences, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology. He is a past president of the Society for Consumer Psychology. His teaching and consulting interests focus on consumer behavior and motivating the workforce. His research focuses on the factors that motivate and influence the decisions of consumers and employees. Tom J. Brown (tom.brown@okstate.edu; Ph.D., University of Wisconsin) is Ardmore Professor of Business Administration and an associate professor of marketing at Oklahoma State University. His articles have appeared in leading marketing journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Marketing, theJournal of Consumer Research, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His current research interests include causes and effects of corporate reputation and the customer orientation of service workers. He is cofounder of the Corporate Identity/Associations Research Group. Teaching interests include marketing research, services marketing, and corporate communications. He is coauthor (with Gilbert A. Churchill Jr.) ofBasic Marketing Research (5th ed.). Consulting interests include marketing research, corporate reputation, and the customer orientation of service workers.     

The effects of extrinsic product cues on consumers’ perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value

The authors report the results of two experiments designed to test the effects of extrinsic cues—price, brand name, store name, and country of origin—on consumers’ perceptions of quality, sacrifice, and value. The results of the experiments support hypothesized linkages between (a) each of the four experimentally manipulated extrinsic cues and perceived quality, (b) price and perceived sacrifice, (c) perceived quality and perceived value, and (d) perceived sacrifice and perceived value. The results also indicate that the linkages between the extrinsic cues and perceived value are mediated by perceived quality and sacrifice. R. Kenneth Teas is a distinguished professor of business in the Department of Marketing, College of Business, Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. His areas of research include consumer behavior and decision processes, marketing research methods, services marketing, and sales force management. His articles have been published in numerous journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theAmerican Journal of Agricultural Economics, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, theJournal of Occupational Psychology, andIndustrial Marketing Management. Sanjeev Agarwal is an associate professor in the Department of Marketing, College of Business, Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. His areas of research include multinational marketing strategies, modes of foreign market entry, and sales force management. His articles have been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of International Business Studies, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management.     

Effects of loyalty programs on value perception,program loyalty,and brand loyalty

The authors investigate how reward schemes of a loyalty program influence perceived value of the program and how value perception of the loyalty program affects customer loyalty. The results show that involvement moderates the effects of loyalty programs on customer loyalty. In high-involvement situations, direct rewards are preferable to indirect rewards. In low-involvement situations, immediate rewards are more effective in building a program's value than delayed rewards. Under high-involvement conditions, value perception of the loyalty program influences brand loyalty both directly and indirectly through program loyalty. Under low-involvement conditions, there is no direct effect of value perception on brand loyalty. Youjae Yi (uoujae@snu.ac.kr) (Ph.D., Stanford University, 1987) is a professor of marketing in the College of Business Administration at Seoul National University. He was at the University of Michigan as an assistant professor, Sanford Robertson Assistant Professor, and tenured associate professor. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Applied Psychology, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, and theJournal of Econometrics. He is currently an editor of theKorean Journal of Consumer Studies and was an editor of theSeoul Journal of Business. Hoseong Jeon (jeonho1@snu.ac.kr) is a doctoral candidate in the College of Business Administration at Seoul National University. He received his M.A. in advertising from Michigan Sate University. His current research interests include customer relationship management, advertising effects on consumer attitudes, and determinants of customer loyalty.     

Managing culturally diverse buyer-seller relationships: The role of intercultural disposition and adaptive selling in developing intercultural communication competence

Given the increase in cultural diversity within marketing organizations as well as within current and potential customer bases, possessing the appropriate communication skills becomes crucial to success in managing culturally diverse relationships. Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of adaptive selling behavior for successful buyer-seller relationships, the exploration of the intercultural aspects of these relationships has only recently begun. This article examines how adaptive selling behaviors and intercultural dispositions of marketing executives contribute to their perceived intercultural communication competence. Results show that in addition to being adaptive, the intercultural disposition of a marketer is of key importance in developing intercultural communication competence. Theoretical and practical implications for incorporating intercultural communication into the development of successful buyer-seller relationships are discussed. Victoria D. Bush (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research has appeared in such journals as theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theJournal of Services Marketing. Her research interests are in diversity, advertising, and ethics. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published or has forthcoming articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Faye Gilbert (Ph.D., University of North Texas) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, theJournal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics, theJournal of Applied Business Research, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and theJournal of Marketing Education, among others. Her work emphasizes the application of consumer behavior theory to health care and to channel relationships. Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He has been honored as the Marketing Educator of the Year by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) and as a recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society Recognition Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Sales Discipline. He has served as the editor of theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and is the current editor of theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice. His primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others. He is the coauthor of three textbooks:Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach, Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, andMarketing: Principles and Perspectives.     

Sibling brands, multiple objectives, and response to entry: The case of the marion retail coffee market

A new brand entering a market often finds itself in competition with sibling brands (those owned by the same parent company). In a case study of a retail coffee market, the authors examine how these brand relationships might influence the sibling and competitor brands' responses to entry. Using an empirically validated brand-share attraction model, the authors compare the actual responses to entry with the optimal responses under different incumbent objectives. The authors find that the responses by sibling brand are more accommodating than those of unrelated brands whose responses are consistent with the preservation of preentry levels of sales. Thomas S. Gruca (Ph.D., University of Illinois) is a Lloyd J. and Thelma W. Palmer Research Fellow and an associate professor of marketing in the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. His research on defensive marketing strategy has appeared in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Management, and Marketing Science. His research on health care has appeared in Contemporary Accounting Research, Health Care Management Science, and Strategic Management Journal. He is currently working on electronic prediction markets and modeling hospital network formation. He is a member of the editorial board of Marketing Letters and a reviewer for a number of management science journals. D. Sudharshan (Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh) is a professor of business administration in the College of Commerce and Business Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests lie in the areas of marketing strategy, new product and service development, and marketing technology management. He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His articles have appeared in various journals including Marketing Science, Management Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, the Strategic Management Journal, the European Journal of Operational Research, the Journal of Service Research, and the Journal of Market Focused Management. K. Ravi Kumar (Ph.D., Northwestern University) is a professor in the Department of Information and Operations Management, Marshall School of Business, at the University of Southern California. His current research interests include the embedding of information systems within global physical operation and the development of sustainable information technology industries in developing countries. He is the author or coauthor of articles appearing in Management Science, Marketing Science, the Journal of Economic Theory, Production and Operations Management, and the Journal of Operations Management. He serves on the advisory boards of Production and Operations Management and Technology and Operations Review.     

Exploring the brand value-shareholder value nexus for consumer goods companies

It is generally claimed that brand names are a corporate asset with an economic value that creates wealth for a firm’s shareholders. However, the scholarly literature has neither provided a comprehensive theoretical basis for this claim nor documented an empirical relationship between brand value and shareholder value. This exploratory study describes a rationale for, and documents, the statistical strength and functional form of a brand value-shareholder value relationship for publicly held consumer goods companies in the United States. A theoretical argument supportive of a positive relationship between a firm’s accumulated brand value and market-to-book (M/B) ratio was empirically validated. However, even though firms with higher accumulated brand values have higher M/B ratios, the functional form of the relationship was found to be concave with decreasing returns to scale. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are outlined, as well as study limitations and directions for future research. Roger A. Kerin (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) is the Harold C. Simmons distinguished professor of marketing at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University. His research focuses on marketing strategy and product management issues. He has published more than 50 articles appearing in such journals as theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Strategic Management Journal, andManagement Science, in addition to authoring four books. He presently serves on numerous editorial review boards and is a former editor of theJournal of Marketing. Raj Sethuraman obtained his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and is an assistant professor at the Edwin L. Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University. His research focuses on competitive marketing strategies, especially price and advertising strategies. He has published in several journals including theJournal of Marketing Research, Management Science, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology.     

An examination of selected marketing mix elements and brand equity

This study explores the relationships between selected marketing mix elements and the creation of brand equity. The authors propose a conceptual framework in which marketing elements are related to the dimensions of brand equity, that is, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and brand associations combined with brand awareness. These dimensions are then related to brand equity. The empirical tests using a structural equation model support the research hypotheses. The results show that frequent price promotions, such as price deals, are related to low brand equity, whereas high advertising spending, high price, good store image, and high distribution intensity are related to high brand equity. Boonghee Yoo (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is an assistant professor of marketing at St. Cloud State University. His research interests include brand equity, cross-cultural scale development, service quality, retail productivity, Internet marketing, and marketing methodology. He has published previously in theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Business & Industrial Marketing, theJournal of Service Research, and theJournal of Marketing Channels. Naveen Donthu (Ph. D., University of Texas, Austin) is a professor of marketing at Georgia State University. His research interests center on research methodology, site selection models, comparative and outdoor advertising, brand equity, Hispanic consumer research, cross-cultural issues, and customer satisfaction. His work has appeared in journals such asMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of Business Research. Sungho Lee (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Seoul, South Korea. His research focuses on understanding consumers’ cognitive processing of brand and price information, brand extension and brand equity, and advertising-driven persuasion processes. He has published previously inAdvances in Consumer Research, Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, Academy of Marketing Science-World Marketing Congress, Korean Marketing Review, andKorean Management Review.     

Creating a firm-level dynamic capability through capitalizing on market orientation and innovativeness

Drawing on the resource-based view of the firm, this study addresses the dynamic capability-generating capacity of market orientation on firm performance. Whereas prior literature has examined environmental turbulence as a contextual condition shaping the market orientation-firm performance relationship, this study takes an internal approach by focusing on existing stocks of resources within the firm while controlling for environmental conditions. A conceptual model is developed that explains how market orientation can be transformed into dynamic capability when complemented by transformational (reconfig-urational) constructs, such as innovativeness. The empirical results support the authors— theory that the effect of market orientation on firm performance is strengthened when market orientation is bundled together with internal complementary resources, such as innovativeness. The authors discuss the findings in the context of varying stages of the product life cycle and at different levels of market development. Bulent Menguc (menguc@brocku.ca), Ph.D., Marmara University, is currently an associate professor of marketing at Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada. His areas of research interest include sales force management and internal marketing, strategic orientations, and cross-cultural research methodology. His research has appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theEuropean Journal of Marketing, among others. Seigyoung Auh (sauh@yonsei.ac.kr), Ph.D., University of Michigan, is an assistant professor at Yonsei University, South Korea. His research interests are the application of the resource-based view to marketing strategy, the role of top management teams on marketing strategy, and innovation and organizational learning. He has publications in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, and theJournal of Economic Psychology, among others.     

Investigating industry context effects in consumer-firm relationships: Preliminary results from a dispositional approach

Few, if any, past studies have attempted to develop a model to capture and explain industry context variability and hypothesize its effects on consumer-firm relationships. Generally, industry effects are ignored, described, or explained post hoc. Using the notion of consumers' dispositions toward a market, a framework is proposed for understanding the influence of industry context on consumer satisfaction, trust, value, and loyalty in relational exchanges. The empirical results of a survey in two service industries show that industry contexts matter and yield significant direct and moderating effects on consumer-firm relationships. The study underscores the promise of a dispositional approach for providing insights for the theory and practice of relationship marketing, resolvin goutstanding questions, and proposing fruitful areas for further examination. Edwin Nijssen, Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at the Nijmegen School of Management at the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research interest focuses on strategic and international marketing issues, relationship marketing, brand management, and new-product development. He has published inLong Range Planning, theJournal of Product Innovation Management, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, R&D Management, Industrial Marketing Management, and theJournal of International Marketing and has written several books on marketing strategy. Jagdip Singh, Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His primary areas of research include consumer dissatisfaction and trust, measurement issues—including relationships between theoretical concepts and empirical observations— and the effectiveness of boundary role personnel. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, theAcademy of Management Journal, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Behavioral Research in Accounting, andManagement Science, among others. Deepak Sirdeshmukh, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor of marketing at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His primary areas of research include consumer trust and consumer processing of brand information. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and theJournal of Consumer Psychology, among others. Hartmut H. Holzmüeller, Ph.D., is a professor of marketing at the School of Business at Dortmund University, Germany. His research interests include cross-national consumer research and customer relationship marketing. Most of his work has been published in German. His articles also appeared in theJournal of International Marketing, Management International Review, andInternational Business Review.     

A cross-national model of job-related outcomes of work role and family role variables: A retail sales context

This article proposes a model of job-related outcomes of four role variables in a retail sales context: work-family conflict (WFC), family-work conflict (FWC), work role conflict (RC), and work role ambiguity (RA). We tested the applicability of the model with three cross-national samples, that is, the United States, Puerto Rico, and Romania, and the results revealed that the model's measures and effects are mostly similar across samples. It was also posited and mostly supported that the effects that WFC and FWC have on the job-related outcomes are greater than the effects of RC and RA. Implications concerning the effects of role variables for international retail managers are offered. Richard G. Netemeyer (rgn3p@forbes2.comm.virginia.edu) is a professor of marketing in the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina in 1986. His research interests are primarily consumer behavior and organizationbehavior issues. His research has appeared in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and others. Thomas Brashear-Alejandro (brashear@mktg.umass.edu) (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is an associate professor of marketing in the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His research has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of academic journals, including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and theJournal of Business & Industrial Marketing. James S. Boles (JBoles@gsu.edu) is an associate professor of marketing at Georgia State University (GSU). He received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University. His research has appeared in a variety of journals, including theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Retailing, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theJournal of Applied Psychology. His areas of research interest include personal selling, sales management, key and strategic account management, and business relationships.     

Price levels and price dispersion within and across multiple retailer types: Further evidence and extension

In this article, the authors develop hypotheses on how prices and price dispersion compare among pure-play Internet, bricks-and-mortar (traditional), and bricks-and-clicks (multichannel) retailers and test them through an empirical analysis of data on the book and compact disc categories in Italy during 2002. Their results, based on an analysis of 13,720 prkce quotes, show that when posted prices are considered, traditional retailers have the highest prices, followed by multichannel retailers, and pure-play e-tailers, in that order. However, when shipping costs are included, multichannel retailers have the highest prices, followed by pure-play e-tailers and traditional retailers, in that order. With regard to price dispersion, pure-play e-tailers have the highest range of prices, but the lowest standard deviation. Multichannel retailers have the highest standard deviation in prices with or without shipping costs. These findings suggest that online markets offer opportunities for retailers to differentiate within and across the retailer types. SDA Bocconi Graduate School of Management Fabio Ancarani (fabio.ancarani@sdabocconi.it) is an assistant professor of marketing at SDA Bocconi University’s School of Management, Milan, Italy. He has been a visiting scholar at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland at College Park. His teaching and research interests are related to marketing strategies in the digital economy. His research has been published in journals such as the theJournal of Interactive Marketing and theEuropean Management Journal. Venkatesh Shankar (vshankar@rhsmith.umd.edu) is a Ralph J. Tyser Fellow and an associate professor of marketing in the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland at College Park. His areas of reseach are e-business, competitive strategy, international marketing, pricing, new product management, and supply chain management. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, Strategic Management Journal, theJournal of Retailing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, andMarketing Letters. He is co-editor of theJournal of Interactive Marketing; associate editor ofManagement Science; and serves on the editorial boards ofMarketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theInternational Journal of Research in Marketing, theJournal of Retailing, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He is a three-time winner of the Krowe Award for Outstanding Teaching and teaches Marketing Management, Digital Business Strategy, Competitive Marketing Strategy, and International Marketing (http://www.venkyshankar.com).     

Innovation generation in supply chain relationships: A conceptual model and research propositions

Innovation generation has increasingly been recognized as an outcome of interaction between a firm and various outside entities. According to this view, supplier involvement and alliances are routes to innovation generation. Despite this realization, there is a dearth of research, both conceptual and empirical, focusing on innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in supply chains. In an attempt to fill this void, this article develops a conceptual model of innovation generation in buyer-seller relationships in upstream supply chains. The authors propose that innovation generation in supply chain relationships, both incremental and radical, is a consequence of interactions between buyers and sellers. They also delineate factors internal and external to the relationship that moderate the link between interaction and innovation generation. Finally, the authors discuss managerial implications of their research and offer guidelines for future empirical research. Subroto Roy (sroy@newhaven.edu) (Ph.D., University of Western Sydney, 2002) is an assistant professor of marketing and international business at the University of New Haven since 2001. Prior to his Ph.D., he had more than 12 years of experience in packaging industry (Tetra Pak) marketing and sales. Involved with several upstream industrial new product development projects he helped clients launch more than 100 brands. Current research interests include global supply chains, technology adoption, and knowledge outsourcing. His work has appeared inAmerican Marketing Association Educators Conferences and is forthcoming inIndustrial Marketing Management, among others. He is a co-guest editor of a special issue of theJournal of Business and Industrial Marketing and has consulted with leading companies in Australia and Asia. See http://www.newhaven.edu/faculty/roy. K. Sivakumar (k.sivakumar@lehigh.edu) (Ph.D., Syracuse University, 1992) is the Arthur Tauck Professor of International Marketing & Logistics and a professor of marketing at Lehigh University. His research interests include pricing, global marketing, innovation management, and supply/value chain management. His research has been published in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of International Business Studies, Marketing Letters, theJournal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Pricing Strategy & Practice: An International Journal, and other publications. He has won several awards for research. He is on the editorial board of six journals. Home page: www.lehigh.edu/~kasg. Ian F. Wilkinson (i.wilkinson@unsw.edu.au) is a professor in the School of Marketing at the University of New South Wales since 2001. His current research focuses on interfirm relations and networks in domestic and international markets and the dynamics and evolution of markets, including applications of complexity theory. His research has appeared in many journals including theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of World Business, theJournal of International Marketing, theEuropean Journal of Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Industrial and Business Marketing, and theJournal of Applied Psychology. He is on the editorial board of 12 scholarly journals. See http://www.marketing.unsw.edu.au/PEOPLE/HTML/IWilkinson.html.