Changing pattern of acquisition behaviour in takeovers and the consequences for acquisition processes

Since 1985 the U.K. and American corporate markets have been seeing, for the fourth time this century, boom conditions in the acquisition and merging of companies. Most predictions suggest this pattern will continue into the 1990s. Yet the failure of acquired companies remains at 50 per cent. In an attempt to understand this failure rate Kitching's seminal work (1967, 1973) is used as a starting point. His hypothesized relationships for success or failure are tested against a recent U.K. study of 40 cases, and found to be insufficient to explain success or failure. A paradigm of contextual and process variables is proposed as a fuller explanation of the phenomenon. Finally, different contexts and different behavioural processes are suggested as more substantial explanations of outcomes.     

The e-marketing mix: A contribution of the e-tailing wars

In the context of the wars between the upstart Internet retailers and the existing bricks-and-mortar retailers, many e-marketing techniques were invented. This article develops a single unifying and theoretically based taxonomy for e-marketing techniques: the e-marketing mix. Drawing on the paradigms of exchange, relationships, and digital interactions in networks, 11 e-marketing functions are identified that form the elements of the e-marketing mix. Nine of the 11 e-marketing functions are considered basic, while 7 functions moderate the effects of others and are termedoverlapping. The 11 e-marketing functions provide a categorization of the e-marketing techniques. Compared to the conventional marketing mix, the e-marketing mix has more overlapping elements and directly represents personalization, an aspect of segmentation, as a basic function. The existence of multiple elements that are basic and overlapping in the e-marketing mix indicates that integration across elements should be more commonplace compared to the traditional marketing mix. Kirthi Kalyanam is the J. C. Penney Research Professor in the Department of Marketing and the director of E^*Business Initiatives at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. The Leavey School offers the premier M.B.A. program for working professionals in Silicon Valley. He teaches e-business, channel marketing, and retailing in the EMBA, M.B.A., and undergraduate programs. His research interests are in e-business, retailing, and pricing. His publications have appeared as lead articles inMarketing Science, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Letters, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of Interactive Marketing. His research paper, published in theJournal of Marketing Research on GeoDemographic Marketing, was selected as a finalist for the American Marketing Association’s Paul E. Green Award for impact on the practice of marketing. Professor Kalyanam has received the dean’s award for outstanding teaching and/or research contributions. He has also taught at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, the Krannert School of Management, and the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University and at DePaul University in Chicago. He received his Ph.D. in business administration from the Krannert School of Management, Purdue University. Shelby McIntyre is a professor of marketing at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. He is also a research associate at the Retail Workbench, a research and education center dedicated to applying advanced information technology to the problems of retailing. He earned a B.S. in engineering (1965), an M.B.A. (1973), and a Ph.D. (1979), all from Stanford University. He has subsequently published more than 50 articles in leading marketing journals, including 5 in theJournal of Marketing Research, 2 inManagement Science, and 11 in theJournal of Retailing. He is on the editorial board of theJournal of Marketing. He has twice received the annual award from theJournal of Retailing for the article “Best Contributing to Theory and Practice in Retail Marketing.” He teaches marketing information systems, marketing research, brand management, and marketing management and was the chair of the Marketing Department at Santa Clara University from 1983 to 1991. His research interests currently focus on decision support systems, retail-related decision models, and e-commerce.     

Recombinant DNA breakthroughs in agriculture,industry, and medicine: A Delphi study

This study attempts to concretely specify some of the breakthroughs to be expected in the biological sciences from Recombinant DNA (RDNA) research and the time frame for their realization. Emphasis is placed on basic knowledge and three applied areas: agriculture, industry and medicine. Dramatic research breakthroughs are expected between 1980 and 2000, with many of these expected to occur in the early 1980s. Some of the breakthroughs cited were development of new nitrogen-fixing plants, a one-celled edible protein, new crops resistant to predators, bacteria for use in waste water and pollution control, petrochemical substitutes, use of gene therapy to correct monogenic diseases such as sickle cell anaemia, use of genetic screening for the isolation of genes responsible for birth defects, and increased knowledge of immunological processes, senescence and cancer.     

Including the effects of prior and recent contact effort in a customer scoring model for database marketing

Database marketers often use a scoring model to predict the likely value of contacting customers based on their purchase histories and demographics. However, when purchase history has been a partial result of the firm’s own contacting efforts, these contacts should also be accounted for in the scoring model. The current work extends the existing literature to account for the firm’s contacts by focusing on each customer’s most recent purchase. Contacts prior to that purchase are designated “prior contacts” and those after that purchase “recent contacts.” A new latent variables formulation of the customer’s propensity to respond is used to predict the likelihood and time of response as well as the relationship to the independent variables. The methodology also addresses the statistical problems of “selection bias” and “endogeneity,” which have been largely ignored in most customer scoring models. An application to the database of a charitable organization confirms that, in this case: (1) the effect of the firm’s customer contact efforts is associated with a stronger propensity to respond than is the case for the included demographics; (2) the firm’s “recent contact” efforts are associated with larger returns in customers’ propensity to respond than the “prior contact” efforts; and (3) the “recent contact” efforts are associated with an at-first increasing but then diminishing propensity to respond up to a point beyond which actual decreasing returns are observed with further contacts. Clearly, too much contacting can alienate would-be donors. The proposed model is general enough to calibrate such impacts in other database marketing applications where the relative effects might be different.

The theoretical foundations of nonprofit competition: a resource-advantage theory approach

Competition in the nonprofit sector has dramatically intensified in the past two decades because of (1) the increased number of nonprofit organizations (NPOs), (2) the decline and diffusion of governmental support, and (3) the entry of for-profit companies into markets that traditionally have been the domain of nonprofits. In an attempt to enhance the understanding of nonprofit competition, the authors apply resource-advantage (R-A) theory, a dynamic theory of competition adapted from the for-profit business literature, to commercial nonprofits and explain how commercial nonprofits can leverage their various resources to successfully compete and deliver social value. Contributing to the understanding of nonprofit competition and the challenge that NPOs face in balancing mission and money, this paper provides a foundation for a theory of nonprofit competition that can guide future research in the area and help NPO managers as they maneuver in today’s increasingly competitive environment.     

EARNINGS MANAGEMENT AND CORPORATE OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE: AN EXAMINATION OF EXTRAORDINARY ITEM REPORTING

This study examines the empirical relation between a three-way classification of corporate ownership structure and earnings management through the use of extraordinary item (EI) reporting. The EI reporting decisions examined are those made during 1960-1966, a time period when US reporting standards allowed considerable management discretion with respect to both the classification of EIs and their placement in the financial statements (i.e., income. versus retained earnings statement). Overall, the results provide strong support for income-increasing behavior by non-owner managers. Importantly, the results also suggest that the three-way ownership classification scheme used in this study is superior to the dichotomous owner-controlled/managercontrolled classification typically used in accounting studies.