Optimal Development Policies: Lessons from Experience

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: THEORY, POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, by I.M.D. Little THE POVERTY OF ‘DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS', by Deepak Lal, Hobart Paperback No. 16 THE THEORY AND EXPERIENCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, Essays in Honour of Sir W. Arthur Lewis, edited by Mark Gersovitz, Carlos F. Diaz-Alejandro, Gustav Ranis and Mark R. Rosenzweig     

The effect of shipping fees on customer acquisition, customer retention, and purchase quantities

The growth of the e-commerce sector has highlighted the importance of shipping fees. We empirically study the effects of shipping fees and marketing activities on customer acquisition, customer retention, and average expenditures using data from an online grocer. We find that shipping fees greatly influence order incidence rates and graduated shipping fees significantly affect average expenditures. The analysis indicates that customer acquisition is more sensitive to order size incentives while retention is more influenced by base shipping fee levels. Furthermore, a profitability analysis suggests that shipping policies that provide incentives for larger order sizes may outperform free shipping promotions and standard increasing fees structures.     

Vulnerability to a Currency Crisis: Lessons from the Asian Experience

Are currency crises caused by manias and panics in financial markets, or by unsustainable deteriorations in domestic macroeconomic conditions? This question is explored in the context of the recent Asian currency crisis. The theoretical concept of vulnerability is used to identify three early‐warning indicators of susceptibility to a currency crisis: rapid accumulation of mobile capital; domestic lending booms; and overvalued exchange rates. It is shown that the crisis and noncrisis countries of Asia may be distinguished empirically, using these indicators, over the decade preceding the crisis. This exercise provides convincing evidence that the crisis emanated largely from domestic macroeconomic conditions.     

The State as Economic Engine: Lessons from the Japanese Experience

This article reconsiders the problem of over-expansion of which many business groups in South Korea and other Asian countries have constantly been accused and concludes that their over-expansion had no direct bearing on the recent crisis. If these business groups have problems, they are, for example, poor management, weak governance and deficient accountability rather than over-expansion. In this regard the reformminded government is justified in taking restrictive measures against the big groups to deal with such problems. Nonetheless, it is suggested that the government would be ill-advised to seek the ultimate dissolution of such groups.     

One firm,one product,two prices: Channel-based price differentiation and customer retention

Every multichannel retailer must decide whether and how to apply channel-based price differentiation. This study identifies channel-related price differentiation instruments and considers their effects on customer retention. It empirically tests hypotheses using a laboratory experiment and analytically investigates feasibility conditions. Results show that channel-based price differentiation positively affects customers through perceived value but harms retention through price unfairness and limited self-determination. The mobile communications retailer in this study would require 5.1% lower operating costs online to ensure its profitability. These results indicate that multichannel retailers with channel-based price differentiation should carefully select their price instruments and meet the feasibility conditions.     

Cross-category variation in customer satisfaction and retention

Perceived quality, expectations, customer satisfaction, and effect of customer satisfaction on repurchase likelihood are found to be higher for products than for services, but repurchase likelihood for products is lower. Retailers have the highest repurchase likelihood and score lowest on the other variables. A set of relevant category characteristics is used to further understand variation in both the levels of these variables and their relationships. Quality, expectations, satisfaction, and satisfaction's effect on repurchase are higher — and repurchase likelihood is lower — when competition, differentiation, involvement, or experience is high and when switching costs, difficulty of standardization, or ease of evaluating quality is low.The author gratefully acknowledges the data provided through the funding of the Swedish Post Office and the support of the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School. This research has benefitted from the comments of Claes Fornell, Michael D. Johnson, Donald R. Lehmann, Mary Sullivan, and participants in the Customer Satisfaction Workshop at the University of Michigan Business School.     

The impact of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability

We study the effects of customer-specific marketing expenses on customer retention and customer profitability in a business-to-business setting. Using data from a company providing hygiene services, we look at the impact of a hitherto unstudied type of expense targeted at individual customer relationships: the offering of free equipment to customers. The data allow tracking the activities performed in more than 4,500 customer relationships over a period of 4 years. Retention rates are higher for customers targeted with free equipment, but this effect results from an interaction with customer size. First-order dynamic panel data analyses show that the impact of targeted marketing expenses on customer dollar profit is positive for large customers, but there is no effect for smaller customers. Thus, targeted marketing expenses seem to be a tool for relationship maintenance rather than customer development: they help in retaining large customers that generate more profit, but they do not seem to work in developing new customers into larger, more profitable ones.     

E-retail factors for customer activation and retention: An empirical study from Indian e-commerce customers

Customer satisfaction has emerged as one of the most important factors that guarantee the success of online store; it has been posited as a key stimulant of purchase, repurchase intentions and customer loyalty. A comprehensive review of the literature, theories and models have been carried out to propose the models for customer activation and customer retention. Five major factors that contributed to the success of an e-commerce store have been identified as: service quality, system quality, information quality, trust and net benefit. The research furthermore investigated the factors that influence the online customers repeat purchase intention on the basis of the Means End Chain theory (MEC) and Prospect theory. By hypothesising that a combination of both utilitarian value and hedonistic values are needed to affect the repeat purchase intention (loyalty) positively, Structural equation model has been presented on the primary data collected from the Indian online shoppers. Results indicate the e-retail success factors, which are very much critical for customer satisfaction. By increasing the utilitarian value and hedonistic values derived by the customers, customer satisfaction and hence the customers repeat purchase intention can be increased significantly.     

How customer experience incongruence affects omnichannel customer retention: The moderating role of channel characteristics

Although a positive customer experience is known to be an important source of competitive advantage, it is unclear how customer experience can be effectively managed in an omnichannel setting. Drawing on goal theory, this study explores the effect of incongruity between online customer experience and offline customer experience on customer retention in an omnichannel context. It also examines the moderating effects of three channel characteristics: transparency, convenience, and seamlessness. Our hypotheses are tested with online survey data, and the results indicate that in an omnichannel context, customer experience incongruence has a negative effect on customer retention, but channel transparency, convenience, and seamlessness can effectively mitigate this negative effect. The findings have both theoretical implications for research related to omnichannel business and customer experience and practical implications for managers of omnichannel services.     

The impact of customer satisfaction and relationship quality on customer retention: A critical reassessment and model development

Customer satisfaction with a company's products or services is often seen as the key to a company's success and long-term competitiveness. In the context of relationship marketing, customer satisfaction is often viewed as a central determinant of customer retention. However, the few empirical investigations in this area indicate that a direct relationship between these constructs is weak or even nonexistent. The overall purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual foundation for investigating the customer retention process, with the use of the concepts of customer satisfaction and relationship quality. The article involves a critical examination of the satisfaction–retention relationship, and the development of a more comprehensive view of the customer's quality perception. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Budget allocation for customer acquisition and retention while balancing market share growth and customer equity

Following the Blattberg and Deighton (BD) model, we incorporate market share growth to explore links between acquisition and retention. We then devise a method for nonlinear programming using a spreadsheet to balance the objectives of market share growth in the short term and customer equity in the long term. The aim of this approach is to determine the optimal spending allocation for customer acquisition and retention and, by applying this allocation to the numerical example used in the original BD model, to balance these objectives. We demonstrate that the differential unit cost of marginal effects, ceiling rate, efficiency, and allocation of spending on acquisition and retention to achieve market share growth can maximize customer equity. We also develop a criterion to help firms decide where to place spending emphasis, that is, on retaining existing customers or on gaining new ones, while keeping the objectives of market share growth and customer equity firmly in mind.     

从广场协议看日元升值的教训及启示

上世纪80年代在世界经济不平衡的环境下,美日之间进行了一系列的政策协调,日本付出了惨痛的教训。这一段历史表明,以汇率调控为主的宏观政策,在调整世界平衡方面仅有短暂的微弱作用,但代价昂贵且不公平。汇率升值对贸易结构有深刻影响,在增长动力减弱的情况下,处理不当容易引发泡沫。应把握好金融自由化、宏观政策、监管及改革之间的关系。     

基于客户价值的客户分类及保持策略研究

客户分类是企业成功的关键,是企业实施客户关系管理的基础,是成功实施客户保持战略的首要任务.本文首先从客户当前价值、潜在价值、忠诚度三个维度来分析如何建立客户价值指标体系.然后结合某汽车4S店构建基于BP神经网络的客户细分模型实际,按照客户的不同价值将客户分为低价值低潜力、低价值高潜力、高价值低潜力、高价值高潜力四类,最后根据客户细分结果分析各类客户的特点并提出相应的保持策略.     

Examining the relationship between customer bonding,customer participation,and customer satisfaction

This study empirically analyzes the relationship between customer bonding, customer participation, and customer satisfaction. It uses data from 804 VIP customers of South Korea's commercial banks. The hypotheses are tested using the structural equations modeling technique. The results show that social and structural bonding are the main antecedents of customer participation. Additionally, customer participation positively impacts customer participation value and worth. The findings also show that customer participation, customer participation value, and customer participation worth strongly and positively affect customer satisfaction. Furthermore, it finds that customer participation value and worth are essential mediators between customer participation and satisfaction.     

Quantifying the link between employee engagement,and customer satisfaction and retention in the car rental industry

In the retail service industry, employee engagement may play an important role in customer satisfaction and retention, as employees often interact directly with customers. This paper investigates the empirical link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction and retention by analyzing a unique data set from a large car rental company. Our analysis makes use of retirement-induced employee turnover as an exclusion restriction that is plausibly induced by employee age, thereby allowing for variation in employee engagement that is partially exogenous to common underlying factors that also impact customer satisfaction and retention. We show that there is a positive effect of employee engagement on customer satisfaction and retention. Further analysis of moderating effects highlight potential limits to employee engagement, as service disruptions in the form of car downgrades can dampen the positive effects of employee engagement. However, despite the dampened impact of employee engagement its overall effect remains positive indicating that employee engagement can be a key factor in building resilience to unforeseen service disruptions.

     

心理契约与消费者意愿保持的关系研究

源于组织行为学的心理契约受到越来越多的关注,这一理论在实践中被用来提高员工对于企业的忠诚度.事实上,在顾客与企业之间也存在着心理契约.本文针对营销情境,对心理契约概念进行了界定,分析了心理契约(交易心理契约、关系心理契约)与顾客意愿保持的内在关系,通过相关的调研采集数据进行实证分析,验证了测度量表的信度和效度,使得顾客保持的心理契约机制的理论假设得到了实证证据的支持.     

马来西亚应对“中等收入陷阱”的经验和启示

作为二战后新兴市场国家的代表之一,马来西亚具有典型"中等收入陷阱"国家的特征。为了在后危机时代的全球经济格局中合理确定自身的位置,马来西亚制定了长期经济战略,颁布《新经济模式方案》,期冀借此摆脱"中等收入陷阱"。这一方案也为其他发展中国家应对可能来临的中等收入陷阱提供了借鉴。