Waste without frontiers?

The transfrontier recovery, treatment and disposal of waste in the European Union is governed by regulations both at the union level and in the individual states. Do these various regulations make economic sense? What are the arguments for and against national export bans and import restrictions over and above the EU regulations?     

Random regret minimization for consumer choice modeling: Assessment of empirical evidence

This paper introduces to the field of marketing a regret-based discrete choice model for the analysis of multi-attribute consumer choices from multinomial choice sets. This random regret minimization (RRM) model, which has recently been introduced in the field of transport, forms a regret-based counterpart of the canonical random utility maximization (RUM) paradigm. This paper assesses empirical results based on 43 comparisons reported in peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, with the aim of finding out to what extent, when, and how RRM can form a viable addition to the consumer choice modeler's toolkit. The paper shows that RRM and hybrid RRM–RUM models outperform RUM counterparts in a majority of cases, in terms of model fit and predictive ability. Although differences in performance are quite small, the two paradigms often result in markedly different managerial implications due to considerable differences in, for example, market share forecasts.     

Estimation bias in choice models with last choice feedback

The study compares two estimation methods for choice models with last choice feedback, using simulated and real data. The first method ignores the impact of unobserved heterogeneity on observed choices via presample choices, while the second method approximates this impact by a stochastic relationship. In panels with less than 10 choices per panelist, the first method overstates the impact of last choice on current choice and understates the impact of intrinsic preferences (i.e., brand intercepts). The second method performs significantly better than the first method. Under both methods, an increase in the number of heterogeneous coefficients in the model tends to increase the bias in the estimates. The largest bias occurs when lagged choice coefficients are heterogeneous.     

Advances in random utility models report of the workshop on advances in random utility models duke invitational symposium on choice modeling behavior

In recent years, major advances have taken place in three areas of random utility modeling: (1) semiparametric estimation, (2) computational methods for multinomial probit models, and (3) computational methods for Bayesian estimation. This paper summarizes these developments and discusses their implications for practice.     

Behavioral research and empirical modeling of marketing channels: Implications for both fields and a call for future research

Game theoretic models of marketing channels typically rely on simplifying assumptions that, from a behavioral perspective, often appear naïve. However, behavioral researchers have produced such an abundance of behavioral regularities that they are impossible to incorporate into game theoretic models. We believe that a focus on three core findings would benefit both fields; these are: first, beliefs that are held by the various players regarding profit consequences of different actions are incomplete and often biased; second, players’ preferences and optimization objectives are not commonly known; and third, players have insufficient cognitive abilities to achieve optimization objectives. Embracing these three findings shifts the focus from rational decision making to how decision makers learn to improve their decision-making skills. Concluding, we believe that greater convergence of game theoretic modeling and behavioral research in marketing channels would lead to new insights for both fields.     

理想的选择 酒店联盟在活动采购中的作用

品牌酒店联盟如果想在会议领域有更好的发展,就需要依靠传播团队和营销团队将会议策划者与合适的酒店联系起来进行精准对接。而这一项工作,酒店联合会可以做到。他们能够帮助独立酒店进入会议活动计划者的选择方向与目标范围。     

Incorporating Behavioral Anomalies in Strategic Models

Behavioral decision researchers have documented a number of anomalies that seem to run counter to established theories of consumer behavior from microeconomics that are often at the core of analytical models in marketing. A natural question therefore is how equilibrium behavior and strategies would change if models were to incorporate these anomalies in a consistent way. In this paper we identify several important and generalizable anomalies that modelers may want to incorporate in their models. We briefly discuss each phenomenon, identify a key unresolved issue and outline a research agenda to be pursued.     

行为经济学对经济人假设的重新审视

经济人假设是经济学理论重要的假设之一,以此为基础构建起从古典经济学到新古典经济学的理论体系。但其与现实的脱离,导致了经济学理论对现实经济解释力的下降。行为经济学将心理学分析法与经济学研究结合起来,依赖有关人的判断和决策的分析来了解经济主体行为,对经济人假设提出了挑战,并对其加以完善。其重要意义在于提高了经济学对现实的解释力、给予经济行为主体实际决策过程以良好的描述,同时为管理学、会计学、市场营销、金融学等与经济学相关的领域提供了新的研究途径。     

Determinants of retail bank choice in Nigeria: a focus on gender-based choice decisions

As the Nigerian retail banks customers become more sophisticated, it is now very important that retail banks determine the factors that are important and relevant to the customers’ retail bank choice decisions. By using a survey of retail bank customers, this study evaluates the relative importance attached to retail banks’ choice criteria used by male and female customers in Nigeria. The results show that there are some differences in choice factors used by male and female customers in selecting a retail bank for patronage. The recommendation is that bank managers should take both female and male market segments into consideration when making retail bank strategic planning in order to become competitive. The findings can assist retail bank managers in refining their marketing strategies as a means of overcoming the intense competition that exists in the Nigerian banking system.     

Parameter nonstationarity in retail choice models

The question of spatial nonstationarity in retail choice models generally has been ignored in the literature. This paper discusses why such nonstationarity might arise and presents an empirical test of nonstationarity in grocery choice data collected from a midwestern city. Based on these findings a nonstationarity retail choice model is proposed. The nonstationary model predicts data from a hold-out sample better than the stationary model.     

新政满月择房而动

新政出台了一个多月,期间经常会有人问我现在应该买房吗?应该买一个什么样的房子?这让我想起做医生的表弟,经常有人问他碘盐真的会防辐射吗?怎样才防辐射?……这或许是近期最容易被问及的两个职业。在这样一个被限定的时代,房地产已经成为了受政策     

Process and context in choice models

We develop a general framework that extends choice models by including an explicit representation of the process and context of decision making. Process refers to the steps involved in decision making. Context refers to factors affecting the process, focusing in this paper on social networks. The extended choice framework includes more behavioral richness through the explicit representation of the planning process preceding an action and its dynamics and the effects of context (family, friends, and market) on the process leading to a choice, as well as the inclusion of new types of subjective data in choice models. We discuss the key issues involved in applying the extended framework, focusing on richer data requirements, theories, and models, and present three partial demonstrations of the proposed framework. Future research challenges include the development of more comprehensive empirical tests of the extended modeling framework.     

Data pruning in consumer choice models

Common, if not ubiquitous, Marketing practice when estimating models for scanner panel data is to: (a) observe the data, (b) prune the data to a “manageable” number of brands or SKUs, and (c) fit models to the remaining data. We demonstrate that such pruning practice can lead to significantly different (and potentially biased) elasticities, and hence different managerial/practical outcomes, especially in the context of model misspecification. We first justify our claims theoretically by writing the general problem in a classic missing-data framework and demonstrate that commonly used pruning mechanisms (gleaned from current academic Marketing literature) can lead to a nonignorable missing data mechanism. Secondly, we summarize an extensive set of simulations that were run to understand the driving factors of that bias. The results indicate much greater pruning bias in those cases where model fit is poor (small ), random utility errors are correlated with the covariates, or the model is misspecified (e.g., a homogeneous logit is specified when a mixed-logit is true). Empirically, we also demonstrate our findings on the well-cited and highly utilized fabric softener data of Fader and Hardie (1996). Our empirical findings suggest a number of estimates that vary according to the way in which the data is pruned including the magnitude of market mix and attribute elasticities, and purchase probabilities, but that the pruning effect is smaller for better fitting models.

Mapping the extended frontiers of escapism: binge-watching and hyperdiegetic exploration

ABSTRACT

Through a micro-ethnographic engagement with consumers’ binge-watching experiences of the web-TV series House of Cards, this videography explores what we consider to be the ‘extended frontiers’ of escapism. In contrast to passive/active classifications of escapism which risk reducing escapist fare to a textual resource which can be categorised discretely at the point of consumption, we consider ‘sustained encounters’ with escapist fare as appropriable textures characterised by ongoing and less immediately discernible processes. Drawing upon the concept of hyperdiegesis, we consider potentially ‘projective’ forms of narrative transportation in binge-watching; heterochronic breaks from normal patterns of time; and post-object behaviours. In doing so, we outline how forms of escapism traditionally considered passive may under certain conditions represent much richer and more complex enterprises than previously imagined.     

京城MICE至臻之选:北京日出东方凯宾斯基酒店及雁栖岛侧记

北京日出东方凯宾斯基酒店&雁栖岛位于北京市区以北60公里,坐落于风景如画的雁栖湖畔,邻近壮丽的燕山山脉和雄伟的慕田峪长城,是京城世外桃源,以及耐人寻味的旅游休闲、会议及婚礼目的地。     

Using stated response choice data to enrich revealed preference discrete choice models

There is growing interest in exploring the view that both revealed preference (RP) and stated preference (SP) data have useful information and that their integration will enrich the overall explanatory power of RP choice models. These two types of data have been independently used in the estimation of a wide variety of discrete choice applications in marketing. In order to combine the two data sources, each with independent choice outcomes, allowance must be made for their different scaling properties. The approach uses a full information maximum likelihood estimation procedure of the hierarchical logit form to obtain suitable scaling parameters to make one or more data sets comparable. We illustrate the advantages of the dual data strategy by comparing the results with those obtained from models estimated independently with RP and SP data. Data collected as part of a study of high speed rail is used to estimate a set of illustrative mode choice models.     

Reinforcement versus balance response in sequential choice

Psychologists often explore the impact of one act on a subsequent related act. With an eye to the marketing literature, this paper explores two properties of sequential choices that involve the resolution of competing goals. Reinforcement occurs when the goals driving the first choice are made stronger by that choice and result in a congruent subsequent choice. Balance occurs when the first choice satisfies or extinguishes the goals that led to the original decision, producing an incongruent subsequent choice. This review examines a number of psychological frameworks that account for reinforcement or balance responses in sequential choice and identifies theoretically relevant moderating variables that lead to either response.     

Experimental analysis of choice

Experimental choice analysis continues to attract academic and applied attention. We review what is known about the design, conduct, analysis, and use of data from choice experiments, and indicate gaps in current knowledge that should be addressed in future research. Design strategies consistent with probabilistic models of choice process and the parallels between choice experiments and real markets are considered. Additionally, we address the issues of reliability and validity. Progress has been made in accounting for differences in reliability, but more research is needed to determine which experiments and response procedures will consistently produce more reliable data for various problems.Sawtooth SoftwareDecision Research