How Concept Knowledge Affects Concept Evaluation

Conventional concept testing methodologies are based on the simple assumption that respondents understand the concept when they offer their evaluation of it. Obviously it's an assumption that often will not hold. What happens to the quality of the evaluation at different levels of concept knowledge is the issue addressed in this article by Eric Reidenbach and Sharon Grimes. Their research shows that the level of concept knowledge affects certain elements of the evaluation more than others, and that the evaluation is moderated by the type of innovation and the way it is presented.     

Marketing versus public relations in selling nuclear power

All too often, the terminology and practices of public relations are used when marketing is what is really needed. This misapplication appears most often when a concept, an idea, or an intangible product is involved. Webster defines public relations as: relations with the general public through publicity; those functions of a corporation, organization, branch of military service, etc., concerned with informing the public of its activities, policies, etc., and attempting to create favorable public opinion.This definition implies a general, ongoing effort to supply information supporting the image of an organization. There is, however, a considerable difference between this kind of activity and the specific, overt process of marketing. This difference has been particularly apparent in attempts of public utilities to “sell” nuclear power plants. Utilities, of course, are monopoly suppliers and, as such, must seek a favorable image in the community. Thus, when public opposition to nuclear power plants mounted, many utilities responded with stepped-up public relations programs; the method they knew best. This article examines the experience of several utilities in locating nuclear plants and suggests how marketing techniques might be used in selling this intangible product.     

Guidelines for Corporate Trademark Licensing

Licensing a trademark in many firms, if it occurs at all, is an incidental ad hoc arrangement. An unorganized approach can mean trouble. It can also mean the firm is losing an opportunity to exploit fully a valuable asset. Tom Meyer, Cathie Tinney, and Terry Tinney argue that trademark licensing is deserving of careful attention and planning.     

Evaluate the sales force as a business

High interest rates are posing serious problems for all business organizations and impact more heavily on those in the industrial sector. Cash flow difficulties result directly from high interest rates, which in turn produce pressure on the sales force: credit terms are tightened; customers are pushed to pay their bills more promptly; and, shipments are delayed because of reduced inventories. This set of difficult circumstances, however, provides an opportunity for management to achieve a long desired objective—making the efforts of the sales force more congruent with the profit and ROI goals of the enterprise.This article outlines the structure of a training program, consisting of seven sessions, that introduces business performance criteria to sales territory management.     

Risk in product development stages

Risk perceptions have an important bearing on the product-development process. The product-development literature reports risk-level and cost increases as a project advances in the R&D pipeline, but no quantification of these concepts is available. Data are provided on how people involved in the product-development process view the relationship between cost and risk escalation. The results are discussed in terms of how companies manage risk and uncertainty in product development.     

Impact of humor on survey responses

This study reports the results of an investigation of the use of humor to stimulate response rates in a mail survey of sales executives in 1000 firms. Results indicate that humor has little effect on response rate, response speed, or response bias and completeness.     

Critical Signals for Making Go/NoGo Decisions in New Product Development

One of the hardest steps for a manager to take is to terminate work on a new product project. Apart from the morale and motivation problems that get tied up in such decisions, the real uncertainty surrounding an unfinished project usually makes the decision extremely difficult. One alternative is to keep the project going until the prospects are more certain, for better or for worse. R. Balachandra proposes a better alternative: to watch for those critical signals that warn of danger ahead. The research he reports in this article identifies a set of these signals to help managers make the tough decisions about project continuation.     

Salesforce entertainment activities

Sales managers need guidelines for controlling the entertainment costs incurred by their sales personnel. Because of the difficulty in measuring the payoff associated with particular entertainment costs, the decision of whether to spend or not to spend is, of necessity, somewhat subjective. One guide is to compare entertainment activities among different salesforces. A survey of over 1300 salespeople employed in a wide variety of jobs in a large number of industries revealed the extent of entertainment efforts in five areas: taking clients out for lunch, for an evening meal, for a drink, for leisure activities, and parties for clients.     

A framework for strategic industrial pricing

A model for pricing decision making in an industrial setting is described. Written from the perspective of a price setter, the model starts with an evaluation of the relative strengths and weaknesses of both buyer and seller. These evaluations are then input into a strategic framework, which integrates tactical considerations with several environmental concerns. The article concludes with a set of strategic pricing alternatives, in a matrix form, to be used by price negotiators and pricing executives of industrial companies.     

A descriptive model of the trade-show budgeting decision process

Spending decisions for industrial trade shows are studied here. A discriminant analysis procedure identifies those factors that separate products that use trade shows from those that do not. The product category, fraction of sales made to order, industry sales level, importance of the product to the customer, and purchase frequency were found to be most instrumental. Another model evaluates the level of spending for products that use trade shows. The sales of the product and stage in the life cycle are shown to be most important in the budget-setting process. The potential use of these results for industrial communications and promotional planning and evaluation decisions is discussed.     

Evaluating the newer salesperson

This article reports the results of an experiment examining the effect pattern of performance and information format have on sales managers performance appraisal.     

Purchase process for capital equipment and services

This article develops some interactive dimensions of the industrial buying center. Buying group processes and outcomes were examined for purchases of capital equipment and industrial services in 31 firms. Qualitative as well as quantitative data were analyzed to test the soundness of an interactive communication perspective on buying, and the managerial implications to be drawn from such an analysis. Equipment and services purchase measures were found to differ reliably across several indices suggested by our theoretical orientation.     

“Salesforce deployment analysis”

An approach to designing a decision support system for salesforce deployment analysis is developed and illustrated with an application example. The approach incorporates research findings from salesforce decision modeling over the last decade. The features and limitations of decision models and methods of analysis are discussed. Guidelines are presented for each stage of decision support system development, while the possibility of expanding a basic deployment analysis system into a more comprehensive sales management decision support system is suggested.     

Competition in government and industry procurement contracting

This study explores government and industry procurement official's perception of inhibiting factor importance to competition in Federal contracting. Within the government sector as well as the industrial sector there are no significant differences in perceived factor importance. However, between the industry and government sectors significant differences in perceived factor importance do exist. The study also reveals some commonality of factors identified by both sectors as important inhibitors to competition.     

A flexible approach to determining financial terms of sale

With high inflation and interest rates the financial or credit terms of a sale are an increasingly important source of foods for buyers and an expensive cost for sellers. This article proposes some guidelines for setting terms of sale policies which may benefit both buyers and sellers. A method for determining the best terms alternative from the buyers perspective is also described.     

The impact of selling aids on new prospects

Once a firm has called a list of good prospects, it is necessary to turn those prospects into first-time customers. Through an empirical investigation in the business forms industry, lunches, plant tours, advertising specialties, and printed promotional material were evaluated as selling aids. Plant tours and lunches were found to be especially effective in turning prospects into customers.     

Evaluating market segmentation approaches

This article is concerned with managing and monitoring industrial market segmentation. The economics of market segmentation are overviewed, and an attempt is made to relate the segmentation tool to costs incurred. It is recommended that managers employ more economical methods of segmentation before using more costly parts of the marketing mix. A monitoring scheme is presented with two components that helps managers assess how well their segmentation strategy converts customers to the firm, meets market needs, and represents an efficient allocation of resources.     

Direct mail response factors for an industrial service

This article addresses the lack of quantitative research on industrial services marketing communications by providing a quantitative study of a direct mail promotion for an industrial service. Prenotification, the structure of the letter, the ethnic background of the signatory, personalization, and prequalifying the respondent were tested as factors influencing the response rate in the direct mail promotion. The results are useful as baseline information for current practitioners and to provide insights for the future development of theories of marketing communications for industrial services.