The behavioral perspective model of purchase and consumption: From consumer theory to marketing practice

The Behavioral Perspective Model of purchase and consumption (BPM) portrays the rate at which consumer behaviors take place as a function of the relative openness of the setting in which they occur and the informational and hedonic reinforcement available in or promised by the setting. Each of eight combinations of contingencies based on these explanatory variables is uniquely related to a specific mode of observed consumer behavior. By providing an environmental perspective on consumer behavior, the model makes a critical contribution to the development of contemporary consumer research that frequently decontextualizes its subject matter. It also presents an innovative conceptualization of the nature of marketing strategies.     

Hoarding behavior among consumers: Conceptualization and marketing implications

In the western world, and in the United States in particular, there has been an abundance of food, materials and fuel over the past several decades. However, many futurists suggest this condition will soon change and a wide range of scarcities will result. Conditions in underdeveloped countries suggest one probable reaction to shortages in hoarding. In light of the predicted shortages this paper (1) develops definition and conceptualization of what constitutes hoarding, and (2) examines the influence hoarding activities have on channel decisions. An overriding purpose of the paper is to generate interest and research into the topic before conditions necessitate that concern.     

Exploring the implications of m-commerce for markets and marketing

Business pundits have enthusiastically prognosticated about a seamless, mobile world where commerce occurs on an anywhere, anytime basis. This type of commerce has been referred to as mobile commerce or, more simply, m-commerce. However, there have been relatively few attempts to systematically explore the opportunities and challenges posed by m-commerce. This article investigates the implications of m-commerce for markets and marketing by means of a formal conceptualization of m-commerce, a space-time matrix that delineates the impact of mobile technologies, and a taxonomy of m-commerce applications. Sridhar Balasubramanian is assistant professor of marketing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His interests generally lie in the areas of marketing strategy, e-business, and game theory. He has published in such journals asMarketing Science, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His doctorate is from Yale University. Robert A. Peterson holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration and Charles C. Hurwitz Fellowship at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a former editor of theJournal of Marketing Research and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His more than 150 publications include nearly one dozen books and award-winning articles. Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa holds the James L. Bayless/Rauscher Pierce Refsnes Chair in Business Administration at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, where she codirects the Center for Business, Technology & Law. She presently serves as the editor ofJournal of the Association for Information Systems. She is a founding member of the Global Round Table on Mobile Commerce Research, which held its inaugural meeting in Tokyo in May 2002.     

Communal and associational social structures: Their underlying behavioral components and implications for marketing

Sociologists have frequently utilized the concepts of communal and associational social structures as bipolar ideal types for describing and interpreting behavioral patterns. An empirical examination is made of this conceptualization, underlying behavioral components are investigated, and implications concerning the generalizability of current marketing research efforts are cited.     

Exploring the implications of the internet for consumer marketing

Past commentaries on the potential impact of the Internet on consumer marketing have typically failed to acknowledge that consumer markets are heterogeneous and complex and that the Internet is but one possible distribution, transaction, and communication channel in a world dominated by conventional retailing channels. This failure has led to excessively broad predictions regarding the effect of the Internet on the structure and performance of product and service markets. The objective of this article is to provide a framework for understanding possible impacts of the Internet on marketing to consumers. This is done by analyzing channel intermediary functions that can be performed on the Internet, suggesting classification schemes that clarify the potential impact of the Internet across different products and services, positioning the Internet against conventional retailing channels, and identifying similarities and differences that exist between them. The article concludes with a series of questions designed to stimulate the development of theory and strategy in the context of Internet-based marketing. Robert A. Peterson holds the John T. Stuart III Centennial Chair in Business Administration and is the Charles E. Hurwitz fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. A former editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science andJournal of Marketing Research, he currently chairs the board of governors of the Academy of Marketing Science. His research interests include the competitive and cooperative interface between electronic and traditional retail channels, customer equity modeling, and the application of options theory in marketing. His research interests are psychological models of economic behavior, consumer choice and choice protocols, and advertising. His work has been published in theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Service, andR&D Management.     

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.     

Risky shift: An empirical investigation and implications for industrial buying behavior and marketing management

This study attempts to determine whether the nature of the industrial buying process has an effect on the riskiness of its decisions. Research has shown that group discussion of alternatives has a tendency to shift initial risk preferences of individuals and groups. This social phenomenon, known as “risky shift,” has important implications for marketers since many decisions involve group consensus or social influence if decisions are made by a single individual. It was posited that the influence of others, mainfested by group discussion, will change the risk preference in both individual and group consensus decisions. An industrial supplier selection decision was presented to 92 marketing students in which five alternative sources of supply were described in reference to various performance criteria. The data clearly reflected statistically significant changes in risk preferences as a result of group discussion in both the individual before-individual after and individual before-group after type decision.     

Success-producer and failure-preventer marketing skills: A social learning theory interpretation

This study examines organizations that emphasize differing types of marketing skills. It is based on a national survey of Health Maintenance Organizations. The organizations are first classified into groups based on their distinctive marketing skill configurations. Six groups were identified. Next, differences between these organization types are examined with respect to organization strategy, characteristics of the chief marketing executive, organizational environment, and performance. These results suggest that more successful organizations develop particular constellations of marketing skills. The results generally appear consistent with a social learning theory perspective on marketing skill development.     

Bounded goodness: marketing implications of Drucker on corporate responsibility

Drucker’s immense contribution to the thinking and practice of management extends to social responsibility in business. This work goes back over 60 years but remains relevant today—notwithstanding the impacts of globalization and the greater interconnectedness of business and society—and not least to marketing. Given trends in marketing research and practice as well as the importance of paying tribute to Drucker and preserving his legacy, this paper examines the implications of Drucker’s CSR “principles” for marketing practice. As well as revealing their significance, it also considers Drucker’s views on the limits of social responsibility, referred to here as “bounded goodness”. It examines how Drucker’s thinking informs the challenging question of “how much is enough?” in relation to corporate responsibility issues such as food marketing and obesity, availability of AIDS drugs in Africa, and supply chains and labor rights.     

The motivation for grocery store loyal behavior with marketing implications

Two different grocery shoppers can be equally loyal to the same supermarket but for entirely different reasons. For example, customer A may be loyal to a store because of convenience reasons while customer B may be loyal to the same store because he or she perceives that the store overall has very low prices. Because of these differences any attempt to segment the market based on store loyalty alone will be only partially effective. A more useful approach is to incorporate a motivation for patronage as well as a loyalty level in a market segmentation classification scheme. On data collected in Bangor, Maine, four types of grocery customers were identified and named price shoppers, convenience shoppers, involved shoppers, and apathetic shoppers. The particular advantage of the four group typology is that customers are defined in terms of response to marketing mix variables. Therefore, the implementation of or changes in marketing strategy is facilitated by the use of the typology.     

Power,conflict, control,and the application of contingency theory in marketing channels

The confusing, and often contradictory, implications for channel strategy emerging from existing theories and empirical studies of power, conflict, and control in marketing channels are discussed. A contingency theory of organizational structure is integrated with propositions concerning the effects of conflict level of channel efficiency to illustrate a procedure for closing the action epistemic gap. Propositions derived from this synthesis of existing theories are presented for future testing.     

Chaos theory and the dynamics of marketing systems

Chaos theory is not well understood or appreciated in marketing, yet it offers a way of improving understanding of marketing systems. A brief introduction to chaos theory is given. Its relevance to marketing is then illustrated through a discussion of different types of marketing models that can result in complex dynamics, including chaos. Next, techniques for detecting the presence of chaos in the behavior of real systems are reviewed. Finally, the implications of chaos theory for marketing theory and practice are discussed. He arrived from London University to take the chair of Analytical Chemistry in 1987 with a background in physical chemistry. His interest in chaos stems from work on fractals—those wiggly shapes that appear to be so ubiquitous in nature. A chance meeting with Professor Wilkinson allowed him to use his computing skills in an unusual (for him) area of research. He has been a visiting professor at various U.S. and European universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Cincinnati, Temple University, and the Stockholm School of Economics. His research focuses on the dynamics of Marketing systems, interfirm relations, and international marketing. His work has been published in journals such as theJournal of the Academy of Market Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, and theEuropean Journal of Marketing.     

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.     

Marketing implementation: The implications of marketing paradigm weakness for the strategy execution process

Reviewing the marketing strategy implementation issue in an era of a weaker marketing paradigm contrasts traditional sequential flow models of implementation with the “strategy formulation/implementation dichotomy” and leads to the emergence of a processual view of implementation. The processual view clarifies the underlying behavioral and organizational factors that build strategy implementation capabilities. These underlying factors are at risk from a weaker marketing paradigm. The weakening of the marketing paradigm is discussed in terms of the downsizing and disappearance of the marketing function, but more fundamentally in the loss of strategic influence for marketing in the face of competing management paradigms such as the “lean enterprise” and “lean thinking.” The conclusion is that the impact on implementation capabilities is being felt first in companies where the marketing paradigm has been traditionally weak, but that this may be prototypical for other companies in the longer term. A number of important areas for conceptual and empirical attention are indentified. Nigel F. Piercy, Ph.D., is Sir Julian Hodge Chair in Marketing and Strategy with Cardiff Business School, at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and has held visiting positions at Texas Christian University, the University of California-Berkeley, and the Athens Laboratory for Business Administration. He has published widely in the area of marketing strategy and implementation in the international literature and has had articles published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of International Marketing, and theJournal of World Business. He has published eight books, most recently the executive textMarket-Led Strategic Change: Transforming the Process of Going to Market (Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann).     

Strategic marketing and marketing strategy: domain,definition, fundamental issues and foundational premises

This paper proposes a domain statement for strategic marketing as a field of study and delineates certain issues fundamental to the field. It also proposes a definition for marketing strategy, the focal organizational strategy construct of the field, and enumerates a number of foundational premises of marketing strategy. The domain of strategic marketing is viewed as encompassing the study of organizational, inter-organizational and environmental phenomena concerned with (1) the behavior of organizations in the marketplace in their interactions with consumers, customers, competitors and other external constituencies, in the context of creation, communication and delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with organizations, and (2) the general management responsibilities associated with the boundary spanning role of the marketing function in organizations. At the broadest level, marketing strategy can be defined as an organization’s integrated pattern of decisions that specify its crucial choices concerning products, markets, marketing activities and marketing resources in the creation, communication and/or delivery of products that offer value to customers in exchanges with the organization and thereby enables the organization to achieve specific objectives. Chief among the issues that are fundamental to strategic marketing as a field of study are the questions of how the marketing strategy of a business is influenced by demand side factors and supply side factors.     

The comparative test in marketing research and theory development

The comparative test has traditionally been viewed as a theoretical and methodological technique that was useful for making rapid advances in the development of marketing as a science. Enthusiasm for the comparative test is rooted in logical empiricism. Unexplored implications for the use of the comparative test in marketing are offered from the sophisticated methodological falsificationist and the social constructionist perspectives. A proposed solution to the problems that are created from using the comparative test in the traditional manner is presented. The solution proposed is relevant to methodology in science in general and should aid research and the development of theory in marketing.     

Nomic necessity in marketing theory: The issue of counterfactual conditionals

One of the well-established characteristics of lawlike generalizations is nomic necessity, i.e., the quality of universality or inevitability. In turn, the ability to support so-called “counterfactual conditionals” is considered the hallmark of lawlike statements which possess nomic necessity. Unfortunately, there seems to be some inconsistent interpretation of this counterfactual-support requirement, revealed even in some of the most prominent works on the subject in the field of marketing. This paper represents an attempt to clarify the situation.     

The service-dominant logic and a hierarchy of operant resources: developing masterful operant resources and implications for marketing strategy

Marketing’s evolution toward a new dominant logic requires the focus of marketing to be on the intangible, dynamic, operant resources that are at the heart of competitive advantage and performance. First, building on resource-advantage theory’s notion of basic resources and higher-order resources, this article proposes a hierarchy of basic, composite, and interconnected operant resources. Second, reviewing research on business strategy and marketing strategy, several resources that correspond to the proposed hierarchy are identified and discussed. Third, the notion of developing masterful operant resources is introduced. Fourth, based on the proposed hierarchy and the notion of masterful operant resources, some exemplars of potential research avenues for marketing strategy are provided. Finally, the article concludes with the discussion of implications for marketing practitioners, researchers, and educators. In sum, this article extends and elaborates the concept of operant resources in the service-dominant logic of marketing.     

Directions for marketing knowledge development: Opinions of marketing research managers

If future academic research is to make a meaningful contribution to marketing practice, we must know more about the strengths and gaps in our existing marketing knowledge base. This article reports the findings of a survey of marketing research managers employed by firms serving both consumer and industrial markets. Data were collected on researchers' perceptions of (1) importance of decision making areas, (2) need for additional knowledge accumulation, and (3) type of additional knowledge development. Survey results suggest that some decision areas are perceived to be in far greater need of further study than others, and that academic research output does not always correspond to the information requirements of marketing practitioners. General Electric Company