The antecedents of renegotiations in practice—an exploratory analysis

In order to support business negotiations with electronic tools effectively, a deep understanding of real-life business negotiations is required. Comparing the settings usually applied in negotiation experiments with the every-day experiences of business negotiators, it can be stated that the work of business negotiators is much more iterative and embedded. Renegotiations appear on a regular basis. This observation stresses the importance of flawless communication in business negotiations and raises questions regarding the reasons for renegotiations and the role of information technology in this context. This paper investigates data gathered in a 2005 survey study in order to identify the context factors that drive B2B renegotiations using a preliminary regression model. The rules of interaction, task complexity, and business relationship are found to be significant predictors of the renegotiation likelihood while media richness does not impact the likelihood of renegotiations in practice.     

Ethical theory and practice: Is there a gap?

Archie Bahm argued recently that there is a gap between theoretical and applied ethics, and that those working in applied ethics must assume the burden of bridging it. Evidence of a gap is considerable, but it seems also partly due to much ethical theory having relatively little to offer to those grappling with practical moral problems. Some aspects of utilitarian theory are examined in this connection. Finally it is suggested that other areas of theory developing new models of man may partly bridge the gap and aid those dealing with problems of moral decision-making. John Hoaglund is Professor of Philosophy at Christopher Newport College. He is at present Chairman of Philosophy. He was formerly Lecturer at the Free University of Berlin. He is Fulbright Fellow, University of Bergen, Norway, 1980. He is the author of: The Voluntary One-Parent Family, in A. C. Cafagna et al. (eds.), Philosophy, Children, and the Family, New York, 1982, pp. 43–50 and published several articles on aesthetics in Journal of Aesthetic Education, British Journal of Aesthetics, Zeitschrift für Aesthetik and Allgemeine Kunstkritik, and Studia Estetyczne.     

Mandatory arbitration of employment disputes—implications for policy and practice

While there's no definitive answer as to whether mandatory-arbitration policies for employment disputes are universally enforceable, many courts have allowed such provisions to stand. To ensure enforceability, however, such a policy should meet certain standards of fairness. Specifically, an arbitration policy should provide that (1) the procedure for selecting arbitrators is fair and impartial; (2) evidence and documentation of the facts of the matter are permissible and sufficient; (3) the damages available to the complainant are in keeping with allowable statutory awards; (4) the outcome will be provided in writing; (5) the agreement is fully disclosed to employees such that it can be entered into knowingly and voluntarily by the employees; and (6) there is no confusion regarding what employment issues must be resolved through arbitration. Mandatory arbitration cannot, however, preclude employees from filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Some courts have also created confusion regarding whether unionized employees with a collective-bargaining agreement should be treated differently from non-union workers with respect to mandatory-arbitration policies.     

Who should practice price discrimination using rebates in an asymmetric duopoly?

Price discrimination is generally thought to improve firm profits by allowing firms to extract more consumer surplus. In competition, however, price discrimination may also be costly to the firm because restrictive incentive compatibility conditions may allow the competing firm to gain market share at the discriminating firm’s expense. Therefore, with asymmetric competition, it may be the case that one firm would let the other firm assume the burden of price discrimination. We investigate optimal segmentation in a market with two asymmetric firms and two heterogeneous consumer segments that differ in the importance of price and product attributes. In particular, we investigate second-degree price discrimination under competition with explicit incentive compatibility constraints thus extending prior work in marketing and economics. Focusing on the managerial implications, we explore whether it would be profitable for either or both firms to pursue a segmentation strategy using rebates as a mechanism. We identify conditions under which one or both firms would want to pursue such segmentation. We find that segmentation lessens competition for the less price-sensitive consumer segment and that this results in higher profits to both firms. A key to understanding this result is that segmentation leads to consumer remixing. We establish the key result that if firms are asymmetric in their attractiveness to consumers, the disadvantaged firm in our model is more likely to pursue a segmentation strategy than its rival in equilibrium. We then ask whether this result prevails in practice. To this end, we explore competitive segmentation empirically and are able to verify that disadvantaged firms indeed pursue segmentation through rebates with greater likelihood.     

What will business-to-business marketers learn from neuro-marketing? Insights for business marketing practice

This research note offers expert comments on the boundaries and frontiers of neuro-marketing application for business-to-business (B-to-B) marketing. This is done using a practice-led approach to discuss the boundaries and frontiers of neuro-marketing application for B-to-B marketing. Insights are provided into what neuro-marketing is, is not, can do, cannot do, should do, and should not do in B-to-B settings. This note can assist B-to-B marketing academics, practitioners, and neuroscientists in understanding the boundaries and frontiers of B-to-B neuro-marketing application. This note outlines how neuroscience can be appropriately applied in theoretical and practical B-to-B marketing endeavors. This note offers a useful response to a series of common but often inadequately answered or unanswered questions on B-to-B neuro-marketing application.     

‘The knowledgeable marketing practitioner’: practice and professional knowing in marketing work

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the knowledge constructs that professionals draw upon when engaging in marketing work. Our conceptual approach stems from a critical analysis of marketing work foregrounding the practitioners’ professional knowledge and practice of marketing work. We identify 13 pertinent knowledge constructs–some of which are illustrated by vignettes–showcasing the shared and multifaceted nature of professional knowledge in a small- and medium-sized enterprise. By exploring how practitioners deploy their knowledge of marketing in practice, we conclude what the marketing discipline can learn from professional knowing. We contribute to the marketing work literature by considering the ontological role of professional knowing in dereifying marketing work from textbook knowledge along with its implications for the critical understanding of the perceived gap between marketing theorising and practice.     

Seeking knowledge or gaining legitimacy? Role of social networks on new practice adoption by OEM suppliers

This study tests two competing views (namely, institutional theory and organizational learning theory) regarding the role of social networks on firms' new practice adoption from 1999 to 2008 in Taiwanese high-tech sector firms that operate under the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) supplier model. Empirical data analysis shows that the sampled suppliers adopt customer relationship management (CRM) systems mostly to gain legitimacy, while they adopt supply chain management (SCM) systems with joint desires of gaining legitimacy and seeking knowledge in the OEM network. The findings indicate that social networks provide firms with a dedicated mechanism for assessing the logic of adopting new practices.     

Kitchen concerns at the boundary between markets and consumption: agencing practice change in times of scarcity (Husmodern,Sweden 1938–1958)

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates practice dynamics in kitchens situated at the boundary between markets and consumption. The kitchen is conceptualized as a market-consumption junction, a space where multiple concerned actors in markets and consumption come to shape, and get shaped by, the practices in the kitchen. Drawing upon archival research of the Swedish household magazine Husmodern (1938–1958), this study traces two matters of concern in and around the kitchen: the scarcity of resources in food markets and the scarcity of time to prepare food for consumption. Findings reveal how thrifty and convenient practices became enacted, and their transformative implications for consumption, demand, and market action. The mechanisms involved in disrupting and reconnecting the dynamic elements of practices (meaning, competence, and objects) are explained through the notions of concerning, agencing, and overflows, which recursively work to redraw the boundaries between markets and consumption to establish novel practices.