Extending the service-dominant logic: from customer centricity to balanced centricity

This is a contribution to the reorientation of marketing. It aligns the service-dominant logic with other developments in marketing and management. It claims that the marketing concept and customer-centricity are too limited as a foundation for marketing and have not—and cannot—but partially be implemented in practice. It urges marketing scholars and educators to accept the complexity of marketing and develop and teach a network-based stakeholder approach—balanced centricity—epitomized by the concept of many-to-many marketing.     

A review of empirical studies of aggregate marketing costs and productivity in the United States

This article reviews empirical studies of aggregate marketing cost and aggregate marketing productivity in the United States. A methodological comparison is made of five cost studies for 1929 and seven productivity studies covering a period from 1869 to 1968. The cost studies do not clarify—one way or the other—if marketing costs too much or too little. The productivity studies, on the other hand, despite a variety of methodologies, reveal a rising secular trend over the past century. Thus, it may be concluded that irrespective of changes in cost, marketing is becoming more productive.     

Toward a theory of the boundary-spanning marketing organization and insights from 31 organization theories

Now more than ever, marketing is assuming a key boundary-spanning role—a role that has also redefined the composition of the marketing organization. In this paper, the marketing organization’s integrative and mutually reinforcing components of marketing activities, customer value–creating processes, networks, and stakeholders are delineated within their boundary-spanning roles as a particular emphasis (labeled MOR theory). Thematic marketing insights from a collection of 31 organization theories are used to advance knowledge on the boundary-spanning marketing organization within four areas—strategic marketing resources, marketing leadership and decision making, network alliances and collaborations, and the domestic and global marketplace.     

A taxonomy of marketing planning styles

This study examines marketing planning styles among a sample of organizations in the health care industry. A taxonomy of marketing planning styles—limited marketing planners, constituency-oriented marketing planners, and comprehensive marketing planners—is derived and then related to the literature on planning. Differences among the marketing planning styles are tested based on hypotheses relating to planning comprehensiveness. The results suggest that: (i) marketing planning styles differ fairly distinctly in their attention to selected elements of the environment; and (ii) the marketing planning style employed is related to the level of competition and to organization size and complexity.     

Is purchasing management to buying as marketing is to selling?

This article examines the hypothesis that marketing concepts and techniques can be as useful to purchasing managers performing the buying function in the 1970s and 1980s as they were to advertisers and sales managers engaged in marketing in the 1950s and 1960s. Relevant concepts are briefly reviewed, and results of a survey of purchasing managers are reported. The data suggest the potential—but not actual—value of marketing-oriented thinking for purchasing managers.     

Gender,income differences,and marketing: Examining the “earnings gap” in three areas of marketing

This research explores empirically a socioeconomic/equity issue that has been extensively investigated in many areas, but never marketing—the so-called “earnings gap.” Specifically, the study investigates income differences between men and women in marketing, while controlling for differences in business experience, level of education, corporate level, type of industry, and size of firm. The research focuses on three areas in marketing: (1) marketing management, (2) marketing research, and (3) advertising agency management. Findings indicate that there is an “earnings gap” for marketers. Importantly, however, the data show that a substantial portion of the gap can be explained by variables other than sex.     

Literary criticism and the history of marketing thought: A new perspective on “reading” marketing theory

This paper proposes the addition of concepts drawn from literary criticism to philosophical and historical ones in order to provide insights into “reading” marketing theory. The paper sets forth three modes of literary criticism applicable to the analysis of marketing theory—psychobiographical, editorial, and structural. It offers as an illustrative example a reading of the history of Ernest Dichter's motivation research movement using these methods. The addition of literary analysis demonstrates how textual clues can enrich the historian's study of the rise and fall of marketing phenomena over time.     

Integrating marketing and information services functions: a complementarity and competence perspective

Integrating two disparate functions in organizations—marketing and information services (IS)—has become a critical business concern due to the increasing use of information technology (IT) to find and open new markets, deliver improved services to customers, and streamline internal marketing processes. This study appears to be the first to empirically examine the dynamics of bringing these distinct groups of specialists together. We investigate potential antecedents, consequences, and contingencies of IS-marketing integration, drawing on theories of complementarity and competence. Through a survey of IS and marketing executives, we learn that integration is facilitated by trust between the two functions and the interaction between IT strategic intent and customer orientation; it is impeded by a gap in top management knowledge of IT versus marketing. We also find that integration fosters the much-coveted capabilities of developing and introducing innovations (innovativeness) as well as responding flexibly, swiftly, and adroitly to opportunities (strategic responsiveness). Additionally, we determine integration is bounded by market dynamism. In sum, integration between marketing and IS can be enhanced via managerial efforts, and the relationship is profoundly beneficial to businesses.     

Effects of accountability on symbolic information search and information analysis by organizational buyers

Most studies of the organizational buying process assume that buyers acquire and use information “prosocially”—to make better decisions and promote their company’s welfare. The authors propose, however, that demands to account for their behavior causes organizational buyers to also gather and use information for political purposes—to protect their own self-interest. The authors present the results of an empirical study that investigates the extent to which four types of accountability—informal, official, process, and decision accountability—result in political (or symbolic) information search and prosocial information analysis by organizational buyers. Study findings suggest that buyers accountable to superiors and those accountable to subordinates or peers engage in more symbolic information search. Buyers accountable for their decision-making process analyze information more extensively. Surprisingly, buyers accountable for decision outcomes neither search for symbolic information nor analyze information more extensively. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include industrial buying behavior, business-to-business relationships, and international marketing. She has published articles in theJournal of International Marketing and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His research interests are in the marketing strategy and public policy areas. His work has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, and several other journals.     

Looking at the age of salespersons

This research reports on the significance of identifying and measuring the attitudes of salespersons, especially on how they perceive their self-development opportunities. The analysis of attitudes—after the employees were segmented into four age groups—indicates that the salespersons between the ages of 26–35 display lower levels of enthusiasm than the norm. Seeds of anxiety, excess mobility, new career demands and other reasons are examplified in related literature of the last decade. Some marketing practices and implications are discussed.     

Coping with organizational role stress: Intrinsic motivational orientation,perceived role benefits,and psychological withdrawal

Researchers have long recognized that individuals in stressful marketing roles find ways to cope with organizational role stress. This study examines the effects of three psychological coping strategies—intrinsic motivational orientation, perceived role benefits, and psychological withdrawal—in a model of organizational role stress. Results indicate that intrinsic motivational orientations reduce perceptions of role conflict and role ambiguity, and increase job satisfaction; that perceived role benefits positively influence job satisfaction; and that job dissatisfaction is the primary cause of psychological withdrawal. The study supports the importance of coping efforts in models of organizational role stress among marketing personnel. Dr. Keaveney’s research interests focus on retailing issues including retail buyer behavior, retail store image, and retail price promotions. Dr. Keaveney has also published in the areas of marketing organizational behavior, services marketing, and international marketing. She is co-author with Philip R. Cateora ofMarketing: An International Perspective, which has been published both in English and in Japanese. Dr. Keaveney has published articles in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Promotion Management, Journal of Marketing Channels, andJournal of Volunteer Administration. Dr. Nelson’s research interests include topics in marketing research, consumer behavior, and advertising. He has published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Research, and serves as occasional reviewer to these publications as well as to theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He teaches courses in marketing management, marketing research, and multivariate statistics.     

Learning effect in multinational diffusion of consumer durables: An exploratory investigation

Literature reflects that a product/technological innovation introduced later in a country results in faster diffusion as the consumers in the lag market have an opportunity to learn about the new product from the consumers in the lead market. A systematic understanding of the learning that takes place between consumers in two countries—a pair of lead and lag countries—can provide insights for a firm’s international market entry decisions. To provide a richer understanding of the underlying structure and patterns that govern this process, propositions linking factors (country characteristics, product/innovation characteristics, and time lag) to the learning process are drawn. Subsequently, these propositions are tested through an empirical investigation of the diffusion patterns of four consumer innovations in multiple European countries. The findings help provide some preliminary guidelines for manufacturers regarding selection of foreign markets and the timing and order-of-entry decisions. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1995. His research interests include global competition and marketing strategy, brand equity and brand extensions, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty, and issues pertaining to product development and introduction. He has been recognized with numerous teaching and research excellence awards and has published numerous articles in many scholarly journals in marketing and forecasting. He has coauthored the textbookMarketing Research and is currently working on a book titledInternational Marketing Research, which is based on his marketing research experience across the globe. He is on the editorial review board of many journals and has lectured on marketing-related topics in various universities worldwide. His research interests include developing forecasting models, international marketing strategy and research issues, models for sales promotions, and new methodologies for product positioning and market segmentation. His research interests focus on marketing strategy and international marketing. He has published articles and presented at conferences on research in his area of interest.     

Assessing the predictive validity of two methods of measuring self-image congruence

The predictive validity of two measurement methods of self-image congruence—traditional versus new—were compared in six studies involving different consumer populations, products, consumption settings, and dependent variables (brand preference, preference for product form, consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction, brand attitude, and program choice). The traditional method is based on tapping the subject’s perception of product-user image and the subject’s perception of his/her self-image along a predetermined set of image attributes and adding the self-congruity scores across all image dimensions. Three problems were identified and discussed in relation to the traditional method: (1) the use of discrepancy scores, (2) the possible use of irrelevant images, and (3) the use of the compensatory decision rule. The new method is based on tapping the psychological experience of self-congruity directly and globally. The findings demonstrated the predictive validity of the new method over and beyond the traditional method. His research interests are mostly in self-concept, quality of life, and systems theory. His research interests are mostly in pricing and product quality. Her research interests are primarily in family decision making. Her research interests focus on the social psychology of clothing and patronage of clothing retailers. His research interests are mainly in the social psychology of travel and leisure behavior. His research interests are mainly focused on self-concept, quality of life, environmental marketing, and sports marketing. His research interests are mainly in self-concept and value-expressive advertising. He is the Academy of Marketing Science Distinguished Professor of Business and is the founder of the Academy of Marketing Science. He currently serves as the organization’s executive director. His research interests are mostly in consumer behavior and advertising.     

Machiavellianism and personal success in marketing: The moderating role of latitude for improvisation

According to theory, the success of Machiavellians rests, in part, on the situational factor “latitude for improvisation”—the freedom to improvise in order to successfully manipulate others. In their study of Machiavellianism and marketing, Hunt and Chonko concluded that Machiavellianism is unrelated to success; however, the analysis did not include latitude for improvisation as a moderating variable. The data are reanalyzed with a measure of latitude for improvisation included. Theory predicts that Machiavellianism is positively related to success when latitude for improvisation is high. The results of this analysis suggest that Machiavellianism is unrelated to personal success in marketing when latitude for improvisation is high but is negatively related to success when latitude for improvisation is low. His research interests include marketing ethics, advertising, and marketing communication.     

The incidence of unethical practices in marketing research: An empricial investigation

The authros examine from the perspective of marketing professionals the incidence of unethical research practices and the influence of organizational factors as determinants of the incidence of unethical research practices. The results indicate some degree of indicence of unethical research practices, particularly of those involving respondents. In addition, the results suggest four organizational variables— extent of ethical problems within the organization, top management actions on ethics, organizational role, and industry category—as determinants of the incidence of unethical research partices.     

Demand and supply integration: a conceptual framework of value creation through knowledge management

Strategy identifies two primary sets of processes through which the firm creates value for its customers by moving goods and information through marketing channels: demand-focused and supply-focused processes. Historically, firms have invested resources to develop a core differential advantage in one or other of these areas—but rarely in both—often resulting in mismatches between demand (what customers want) and supply (what is available in the marketplace). This paper suggests that successfully managing the supply chain to create customer value requires extensive integration between demand-focused processes and supply-focused processes that is based on a foundation of value creation through intraorganizational knowledge management. Integrating demand and supply processes helps firms prioritize and ensure fulfillment based upon the shared generation, dissemination, interpretation and application of real-time customer demand as well as ongoing supply capacity constraints. We draw upon literature in marketing, logistics, supply chain management and strategy to introduce a conceptual framework of demand and supply integration (DSI). We also offer insights for managerial practice and an agenda for future research in the relatively under-researched, but strategically important, area of demand and supply integration.     

An emprical methodology for the ethical assessment of marketing phenomena such as casino gambling

The methodology proposed here exemplifies how psychometric measures can be dovetailed to assess ethical dimensions of social marketing phenomena such as legalized casino gambling. Three traditional ethical theories—Deontology, Teleology, and Distributional Justice—are incorporated in the methodology design. Reactions of metro household-heads to legalizing casino gambling in their city were obtained from an existing metro panel. A pro-gambling attitudinal scale developed for this purpose, and tested for its reliability, discriminant and nomological validity, was the basis for deriving valid and insightful teleological and distributive assessment measures. As expected, casino gamblers and gamers obtained higher pro-gambling scores than non-gamblers. While teleological and deontological justifications of casino gambling were decisively low, distributive-justice related conditional acceptance of casino gambling was higher.     

The strategic imperative and sustainable competitive advantage: Public policy implications of resource-advantage theory

Strategy theorists share (1) the view that the strategic imperative of a firm should be sustained, superior financial performance and (2) the belief that this goal can be achieved through a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. Neoclassical perfect competition and traditional industrial organization economics, however, imply that the sustained performance goal advocated by strategy theorists is anticompetitive and its achievement presumptively detrimental to social welfare. This article addresses the strategy-is-anticompetitive thesis with the goal of grounding strategy in a theory of competition— resource-advantage theory—that does not imply that the strategic imperative and its achievement are presumptively anticompetitive and antisocial. As such, this article initiates a discussion of the public policy implications of resource-advantage theory. Shelby D. Hunt is the J. B. Hoskins and P. W. Horn Professor of Marketing at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. A past editor of theJournal of Marketing (1985–1987) and author ofModern Marketing Theory: Critical Issues in the Philosophy of Marketing Science (South-Western, 1991), he has numerous articles on competitive theory, macromarketing, ethics, channels of distribution, philosophy of science, and marketing theory. Three of hisJournal of Marketing articles, “The Nature and Scope of Marketing” (1976), “General Theories and Fundamental Explananda of Marketing” (1983), and “The Comparative Advantage Theory of Competition” (1995), have won the Harold H. Maynard Award for the “best article on marketing theory.” He received the 1986 Paul D. Converse Award from the American Marketing Association for his contributions to theory and science in marketing. He received the 1987 Outstanding Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science and the 1992 American Marketing Association/Richard D. Irwin Distinguished Marketing Educator Award.     

Trademark dilution and the practice of marketing

This article considers the marketing implications of the Federal Trademark Dilution Act (FTDA) of 1995. The FTDA, an amendment to the Lanham Act, will influence the manner in which marketing is practiced well into the twenty-first century. Although the FTDA is specifically concerned with protecting famous trademarks from being diluted—either by having their distinctiveness diminished or positive associations tarnished—by similar trademarks, its influence will not be limited to trademark or branding issues. Implications range from the allocation of advertising resources to the increased use of marketing research. Robert A. Peterson holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration and the Charles E. Hurwitz Fellowship, both at The University of Texas at Austin. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Peterson’s publications have appeared in such journals as theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, andMarketing Science. His research interests range from Internet marketing to research methodology to marketing strategy. He presently serves on the boards of several for-profit and not-for-profit organizations as well as an advisory committee to the Bureau of the Census. Karen H. Smith is an assistant professor at Southwest Texas State University. Her Ph.D. is from The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Smith’s research interests include consumer information processing, consumer knowledge structures (schemata), dilution of brand equity, and adolescent smoking. Her research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Education, andAdvances in Consumer Research. Philip C. Zerrillo is executive MBA director at The University of Texas at Austin. His Ph.D. is from Northwestern University. Dr. Zerrillo’s research interests have focused on broad-based business innovation, strategic development of distribution channel arrangements, the value of brands in the distribution channel, managing brands as assets, and the legal aspects of branding and channel decisions. His most recent research on antitrust regulation appeared in theJournal of Corporation Law, a University of Iowa law review.     

The evaluation stage in marketing decision making

Prior to making important decisions, marketing managers go through an evaluation process in which available alternatives are compared. Yet, no systematic discussion of the evaluation process exists in the marketing literature. This article reviews the marketing and behavioral decision theory literature in order to identify factors that may cause errors in the two fundamental elements of the evaluation process—the estimation of probabilities and the determination of the value of outcomes. Propositions are developed that specify circumstances in which marketing management decisions may be influenced by judgmental biases, and procedures are identified for debiasing such judgments.