Cross-national product value perceptions

Can a psychographic variable, i.e., a value perception of a product, be successfully compared across national boundaries? Using students in four countries, the authors tested for similarity in a two-stage process. Value perception was tested by comparing samples using only the owners of the products first, and then using only the nonowners. Similarities were found that bridge national borders. These similarities are evident where the respondents sampled are owners of the base products or have a high degree of market knowledge regarding these products.     

Reliability and cross-validity of trade-off analysis in an industrial setting

More than 200 applications of trade-off analysis now have been completed. A review of the literature uncovers only four sources that evaluate the reliability or validity, or both, of trade-off analysis using the concept evaluation approach. Detailed evaluations of trade-off analysis based on trade-off grid data are unavailable. This paper reports reliability and cross-validity experience using this approach.     

Formulating a strategic portfolio of profitable retail market segments for commercial banks

A profit contribution study of commercial bank retail customers reveals systematic relationships with family life cycle, social stratification, and relative income class. The analysis leads to the conclusion that a bank's continued retail growth and profitability depend in a crucial way on its ability to attain a balanced portfolio of three key high profit market segments. To attain this mix, banks must intensify product development efforts oriented to the asset management needs of upscale customers during the later stages of the family life cycle. It is interesting to note that these three market segments are expected to attain the highest population growth rates in the decades ahead as the age distribution of the population changes.     

Demographics in consumer behavior

Four criticisms against using socioeconomic and demographic (SED) factors in consumer behavior are reviewed: dissatisfaction with models of consumption behavior developed by economists and sociologists, obsolescence of SED factors in mass consumption societies, poor predictions produced by SED factors, and a grass-is-greener attitude held by consumer researchers. The insights offered substantially hurt the validity of these criticisms. Strategies for better theory and research in consumer behavior using SED factors are described.     

Product life cycle research: A literature review

The purposes of this paper are threefold: to review the scope of product life cycle (PLC) research; to pinpoint areas requiring further investigation; and to provide guidelines for future researchers. Because of the paucity of empirical evidence, only tentative conclusions are advanced. For example, the most common PLC pattern is the classical, bell-shaped curve, but it is not the sole shape. The application of various forecasting techniques across the PLC have met with merely moderate success. Very little research has been conducted either on how different characteristics of the firm influence the PLC or on the actual use of various PLC-strategy theories by business planners. Finally, investigators have focused almost exclusively on validating the existence of the PLC concept among nondurable consumer goods. Industrial items, as well as major product changes, have been nearly ignored. The main conclusion is that additional research-more diversified and extensive in nature-is needed on many PLC topics.     

Financial profiles and the disclosure of expenditures for socially responsible purposes

Recently the relationship between “socially responsible” activities and the financial performance of corporations has received attention in the business literature. Most studies have focused on the market reaction of shareholders to the disclosure of both monetary and nonmonetary corporate contributions relating to pollution control, employee welfare, affirmative action, and other activities deemed to be in the public interest. Results of this research have been mixed, with some authors finding favorable market response to socially responsible actions, and others finding no difference between the market performance of more and less responsible firms. The purpose of this paper is to examine financial performance and socially responsible activities from a different perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationship between the disclosure of monetary expenditures for various social initiatives and composite financial accounting profiles of disclosing and nondisclosing firms. Using two-group discriminant analysis, the authors conclude that management tends to disclose monetary expenditures for these generally nonproductive purposes at times when the financial statements of the firm otherwise look favorable to shareholders. Such disclosure in a sample of Fortune 500 firms in 1976 and 1977 was clearly not unrelated to financial performance, and neither did it appear to occur in order to explain relatively poor financial statements.     

Attitudes toward the corporation and the evaluation of social data

A scale is presented to measure attitudes about the social role of corporations, and to test for any association between attitudes and perceptions of the relevance of social data. Attitudes are found to be associated with perceptions of the relevance of social data. The relationship between attitudes and perceptions is also conditioned by the source of the social data.     

Power enactment through language and ritual

Organization designers give too little attention to how structures emerge through processes of social interaction. They often implicitly presume that what is designed can be implemented through imposition or “organizational development.” Power relationships can emerge, in part, through statements and rituals which effectively create subordination. Rituals and speech events which can enact this relationship may provide supervisors with access to power when other avenues such as expertise and legitimatized social expectations fail. When effectively executed, language based rituals can also help thwart the intentions of system designers and others who seek to implement significant organizational change.     

Perceived industrial innovation advantage and export commitment

There are increasingly sales opportunities for capital equipment in developing countries. Concomitantly, concern is that capital intensive technologies are too widely employed. Yet there has been little reported empirical research on why LDC manufacturers choose specific equipment. Textile manufacturers accounting for a significant part of Peru's spinning and weaving capacities participated in this study by providing perceptions of two capital versus labor intensive technologies capable of producing identical output. Exporters and nonexporters scores, using a five-point scale, were compared by t tests on 19 equipment attributes selected from innovation diffusion studies. Factor analysis determined innovations underlying dimensions. Factor scores were regressed on export commitment proxies. Higher export dependence related to more concern with ease of altering output specifications and less concern with cost, thus supporting that dependence on foreign versus domestic markets will affect equipment decisions. The method of comparing product attribute perceptions provides a simple possibility for segmenting LDC capital equipment markets.     

Price elasticity and bid-ask price spreads in the treasury bond market

Typical analyses of transactions costs in the bond markets explain these costs in terms of yield, term to maturity, coupons, and issue size. However, these analyses do not recognize the price elasticity of bonds to interest rate movements, which provides better measures of market risk and bid-ask price spreads. Elasticity or duration and issue size together display stronger associations with bid-ask price spreads than do the traditional variables. The association is also less subject to multicollinearity of the independent variables. Finally, stepwise regressions show that coupon and yield data add no information about bid-ask price spreads not already impounded in the duration statistic. This casts doubt on the nonduration arguments often used to support these variables as separately meaningful in transactions cost analyses.     

Disconfirmation processes and consumer evaluations in product usage

Recent works on satisfaction theory have shown that disconfirmation plays a major role in the determination of satisfaction levels. Less, however, is known about the mental process used by consumers to form disconfirmation cognitions. This study operationalized and tested the role of two types of disconfirmation, inferential and overall (perceived), on the satisfaction of appetite suppressant users after first trial and repeat usage situations. Results showed that overall perceptions mediated the relationship between inferred disconfirmation and satisfaction in both time frames, as hypothesized.     

Longitudinal organizational research in field settings

Managers, theorists, and researchers are interested in studying organizational phenomena such as technological change, organizational development, and leadership effectiveness over a period of time. However, a review of the literature in the field of organizational behavior and management indicates that a limited number of empirically based studies rigorously investigate changes within organizations. This article looks at the salient characteristics and issues facing those engaged in longitudinal research. While much more theoretical and methodological work is needed to improve the rigor of this type of research, some researchers have forged ahead and have attempted to conduct longitudinal research in field settings. A select few of these studies are presented to illustrate what can be accomplished by longitudinal research and what needs to be improved in such research designs. In conclusion, the authors offer some suggestions that may serve to increase the number of longitudinal organizational research studies in the future.     

Estimating temporal trends in preferences measured by graded paired comparisons

A sizable marketing research literature on preference measurement, prediction, and explanation has thus far been more concerned with point estimates of preference than with consistent changes over time. Such temporal trends can be estimated using data collected from graded paired comparisons. An appropriate technique for deriving individual and group trend parameters is first described and then illustrated using data from an experiment dealing with aesthetic preferences. Suggestions are offered concerning its advantages and limitations for applications in marketing.     

Social irresponsibility in management

Previously published research suggested that the typical manager may be expected to harm others in his role as a manager. Further support for this was drawn from the Panalba role-playing case. None of the 57 control groups in this case were willing to remove a dangerous drug from the market. In fact, 79% of these groups took active steps to prevent its removal. This decision was classified as irresponsible by 97% of the respondents to a questionnaire. Because the role exerts such powerful effects, an attempt was made to modify subjects' perceptions of their role so that managers would feel responsible to all of the firm's interest groups. Some subjects were told that board members should represent all interest groups; other subjects were placed on boards of directors where the different groups were represented. Subjects in both groups also received information on the impact of the decisions upon stockholders, employees, and customers. The percentage of irresponsible decisions was reduced under these conditions as only 22% of the 116 groups selected the highly irresponsible decision.