Beyond the Life Cycle. II. An Illustration

In the preceding article, Chris DeBresson and Joseph Lampel propose a new, nonlinear view of technological evolution. In this article, they use their new model to take us through the changes in one firm over a period of more than 50 years. Their model emerges as less constraining in strategic options than in the traditional view, and richer in its representation of technological change.     

Compensation plans that link management and salesman's objectives

In many companies, sales management pursues several objectives through the sales force compensation scheme, some of them qualitative and long-run. On the other hand, salesmen within the same sales force are likely to display heterogeneous preference patterns for compensation formulae. In this frequent occurrence, a jointly optimal compensation plan is not likely to be found (or even to exist), and a sales manager can only hope to find one of the best possible compromises between management's and salesmen's objectives. This paper proposes a seven-step procedure for finding such a compromise. An actual application is reported, and operational procedures are discussed.     

Small business purchasing of capital equipment

This article concerns the results of a study employing consumer brand-choice methodology to explain the evaluation and buying decisions for light excavators by individual entrepreneurs. First, the purchasing of industrial products by small businesses is briefly discussed conceptually. Second, the buying decisions of Finnish contractors for light excavators were investigated with a multiattribute choice model. The results indicate that buying decisions are based on product attributes that differ from one excavator model to another. The usefulness of the selection model is evaluated, and a framework model describing factors affecting an individual entrepreneur's excavator buying process is suggested together with certain implications for marketers.     

Industrial buyer complaining behavior

Many areas of household consumer behavior research were extended to study organizational buyer behavior in the recent years. However, one exception is the buyer dissatisfaction and complaining behavior area. This article discusses the various conceptual aspects of organizational buyer complaining behavior. A model of buyer complaining behavior is proposed and some theoretical portulates are formulated for additional research.     

The evolution of Coca-Cola Australia’s soft drink reformulation strategy 2003–2017: A thematic analysis of corporate documents

Governments around the world are pressuring the soft drink industry to reformulate sugary drinks, in particular through taxes on sugar content or front-of-pack labels identifying products high in sugar. Even in countries with no sugary drink tax, such as Australia, the soft drink industry has a reformulation policy. While reformulation is often framed as a “win-win” solution for business and public health, many public health experts consider it to be a political strategy to improve corporate reputations and minimise the threat of regulation. We use a case study of Australia’s largest soft drink company, Coca-Cola Australia, to examine the evolution of corporate reformulation policies. We analysed a dataset of 144 corporate documents published between 2003 and 2017 to analyse how Coca-Cola’s policies changed and how it described and justified its reformulation initiatives. Between 2003 and 2017, Coca-Cola Australia shifted its reformulation strategy from “offering choice” to “systematic” sugar reformulation. It also presented two predominant rationales for reformulation: that it would grow its business and that it was “part of the solution” to obesity. We discuss these findings in relation to market and regulatory challenges facing the soft drink industry globally, including the spread of sugary drink taxes as well as consumer rejection of artificial sweeteners. This paper examines how a regional branch of the world’s largest soft drink company is adapting to pressures to reduce the sugar in its products as well as the tensions and barriers it faces in negotiating different consumer and public health interpretations of healthy beverages.     

Strategic Alternatives in Emerging Industries

Managers of firms in emerging industries face major challenges in coping with the day-to-day crises that arise from constantly changing operating conditions. But they also face more subtle strategic challenges that have to be addressed successfully if the firm is ultimately to survive. Rod Macdonald says there are three basic strategic options for these firms, and in this article he provides the analysis to help managers think their way through the difficult choices.     

Pricing practices in two industries

Although a critical part of marketing decision making, very little has been written about industrial pricing policy and strategy. This article has three objectives: First, to report the pricing practices of the chemical and construction industries; Second, to compare their pricing policies; and third, to develop a simple pricing framework for industrial marketers. The results of this study are interesting and somewhat unexpected. The buyer and his behavior only play a small part in pricing policy. A pricing framework or model is presented in a logical and systematic way.     

Strategic management in not-for-profit organizations

With many executives spending at least part of their management careers in not-for-profit organizations, the application of viable principles from corporate experience to the not-for-profit situation is important if these managers are to transfer their talents between organizational forms effectively. Strategy identification, evaluation, and reformulation for the not-for-profit organization are discussed in this paper, as an adaptation of the principles developed for corporate strategic management.     

Principles vs. Practice in New Product Planning

The product planning practices at nine large companies in the electronics industry are described and examined in the light of three principles derived from modern management practice. Major deviations between principle and practice are revealed. Close examination of the firms' new product activities suggests that the deviations stem from the inherently complex nature of the process and the premium it places on the need to manage it effectively. Suggestions for improving product planning performance are made. These relate to the need to make the process more uniform and systematic, to improve the guidance provided by strategic planning, and to obtain greater input to the process from marketing research.     

Marketing executives' perceptions of equitable salary increases

Employees' perceptions of fair and equitable salary increases is the subject of this article. Factors hypothesized to be the major determinants of the “perceived amount of pay that should be received” in Lawler's model of pay satisfaction are employed as predictor variables in a multiple regression equation context to explain the observed variation in executives' perceptions of fair and equitable salary increases. A national sample of industrial marketing executives were surveyed. A significant relationship was observed between employees perceptions of fair and equitable salary increases and a number of perceived personal job input and job demands related variables, current salary and wage history, and perceived non-monetary outcomes which are theorized in Lawler's model to be among the major determinants of the perceived amount of pay that should be received.     

三氯异氰尿酸红外光谱测绘方法探讨

对 KBr压片法、KCl压片法及萨特勒图谱采用的糊状法所绘制的三氯异氰尿酸的红外光谱图进行了分析、对照。同时将三氯异氰尿酸分别与 KBr,KCl研磨 ,以及三氯异氰尿酸纯品进行了可见 -紫外吸收光谱对照。实验发现 ,KCl压片法克服了溶剂的影响 ,更简单、直观体现了物质的精细结构 ,且与 KCl研磨后的三氯异氰尿酸的纯品图谱一致 ,说明结构未发生变化。因此认为 KCl压片法是绘制三氯异氰尿酸红外光谱图较好的方法     

Salary increases for the marketing executive

This article discusses how marketing executives view their pay raise. A study of 491 marketing executives examined their views on what is a meaningful salary increase and the reasons why their companies give pay raises.     

隐蔽课程对高校体育课程体系影响的统计学分析

采用整群抽样的方法从河北科技大学在校本科生中随机抽取3个大班共594人,通过问卷的方式对学生进行调查,并对问卷结果进行统计分析。结果表明体育隐蔽课程在体育场地设施及布局、体育教师的教学行为与方式、体育教学过程中的心理氛围、教师个人素养等方面对体育教学的影响很大,学校应重视体育文化活动与规章制度的建立健全;通过聚类分析把体育隐蔽课程从各方面对体育教学的影响分为3类,由这3类分析结果说明体育隐蔽课程的各方面对体育教学的影响是很大的,但认识程度不同,应加大体育隐蔽课程建设的力度,从而更好地实现体育课程的基本目标和发展目标。     

Sales management control and job performance

A national firm's salespeoples' perceptions of their management control system were related to their performance and satisfaction. Salespeople who perceived job goal clarity, control over their work, and job rewards as being based upon performance were found to be relatively higher performers and better satisfied with their job.     

Industry influences on strategy reformulation

This paper emphasizes the contribution of ‘borrowed experience’ to strategy reformulation. The industry group is described as a particularly important arena in which niche-related problems and solutions are identified and tested. Industry-wide mistakes in environmental interpretation and strategic response provide interesting evidence of the importance of this contribution to organizational decision making. An industry oriented view of strategy reformulation requires two kinds of research which are rarely conducted today. We need to know more about the pool of strategic concepts which a group of organizations holds in common at any given time. Spender's study of fork-lift truck rental companies is reviewed as an example of this kind of work. A second kind of needed research involves change in strategic concepts over time. A study of the perceived import threat to the appliance industry from 1950 to 1975 is summarized as an example of this second kind of research.     

跨国并购中的无形资源优势转移分析——以TCL集团和万向集团跨国并购实践为例

跨国并购是实现无形资源优势在来自不同国家的企业之间的双向转移与扩散的重要途径之一,但这种转移与扩散深受无形资源特性的影响。本文分析了隐默性和适配性对无形资源优势转移与扩散的影响,并建立了相应的分析模型,并以TCL集团和万向集团近年来的跨国并购实践为例进行了实证分析。     

Sales force evaluation with expectancy theory

The salespeople and their sales managers of two national firms were surveyed to examine the relationships between the salespeople's effort, performance, satisfaction, and propensity to leave their job. The 399 salespeople participating in the study were evaluated by their sales managers. Research results provide insights into the problems associated with correctly measuring performance and testing expectancy theory when salespeople are not evaluated on objective performance measures.     

The relative importance of industrial promotion tools

This article describes a survey of the perceptions of organizational buyers regarding the extent to which their purchasing decisions are influenced by various promotional tools. The results of this survey provide some practical implications for industrial marketers regarding the relative effectiveness of various promotional tools and the relative emphasis that they should place on each of them.     

Getting consumers to eat more whole-grains: The role of policy, information, and food manufacturers

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines were unique because they offered quantitative recommendations for consumption of whole-grains. This case study examines the hypothesis that the changed recommendations were responsible for the recent increase in retail sales and consumption of whole-grain food products. We find that release of the Dietary Guidelines and related media attention did increase availability and sales of whole-grain foods. A large impact on consumption occurred through reformulation of existing products, induced by competition among food suppliers. This study reveals the key role product reformulation plays in inter-firm competition and in realization of dietary changes recommended by public policy.     

Vendor segmentation: An additional level of market segmentation

This article describes a new conceptual approach, called “vendor segmentation,” which will be useful to industrial marketers in making their vendor evaluation and selection procedures more customer oriented, and hence more profitable, than conventional procedures. A practical approach for doing vendor segmentation analysis is outlined as a stepwise procedure, and the potential benefits and limitations of using this approach are discussed.