Critical consumer issues in St. Lucia: an examination of consumer challenges and related learning among rural adults according to income levels

Consumer education is a relatively new and growing interest in St. Lucia. Neither the government nor the National Consumer Association has established a consumer education programme to address the growing consumer concerns in the country. The purpose of this study was to examine critical consumer issues, related learning challenges and strategies among rural adults in St. Lucia according to income levels. Rural adult consumers are most disadvantaged in terms of levels of education, income and access to resources, which may help to prevent and mediate consumer concerns. The specific research questions examined were: (1) What is the nature of problems experienced by rural St. Lucian adult consumers in the marketplace? (2) How do rural St. Lucian adult consumers solve the challenges they encounter in the marketplace? (3) What is it like for rural St. Lucian adult consumers as they go about trying to learn to solve the consumer issues they face? and (4) What do rural St. Lucian adult consumers perceive to be the requisites for effective decision making in the marketplace? Data were collected using a questionnaire comprising of 29 questions divided into four sections (problems, strategies, solving consumer problems and making effective decisions) and two biographical questions. A total of 500 rural adult consumers were surveyed verbally through door‐to‐door contact. The findings of this study revealed that middle‐income rural adult consumers experience more problems in the marketplace than those with each lower or higher level of income. Middle‐income rural adult St. Lucian consumers in particular seek more information and are comfortable with using more strategies than the lower‐ and higher‐income rural adult consumers. This research gives us a better understanding of the problems faced by rural adult consumers based on their income. Research results will be useful to the government of St. Lucia and the National Consumer Association when they decide to establish an adult consumer education programme for St. Lucia.     

Between saying and doing is the ocean: an empirical exploration of the gap between strategic marketing plans and their implementation in the life sciences industry

The difference between what firms’ strategic marketing plans say and what those firms do in practice is a long-standing issue. This paper describes work to empirically test Smith’s 2013 model of marketing strategy implementation, itself a synthesis of several concepts from the organisational behaviour and organisational psychology literatures. Using a sample of 391 respondents from 53 medium and large firms in the life sciences sector, it was found that there is only a 50% overlap between plans and execution. Further, as Smith’s model suggested, intraorganisational conflict was found to be the most important cause of this phenomenon, whilst individual commitment is an important secondary cause. Attempts to demonstrate moderating factors suggested by Smith’s model were unsuccessful. This work contributes to theory by providing the first robust explanation of why firms do not fully execute their strategic marketing plans. It also contributes to practice by measuring the gap between plan and practice in marketing strategy and suggesting ways that gap might be reduced.