Impact of positioning strategies on service firm performance

This research examines the application of positioning strategies of retail service firms in Texas. Four in-depth qualitative case studies and covert observation methods provide candid subterranean insight into retail positioning in a dynamic marketplace. “Branding”, “service”, “value for money” and, to a lesser extent, “reliability” and “attractiveness” positioning strategies emerge as the most dominant positioning strategies, although emphasis placed on each varies from firm to firm. Furthermore, all of the firms achieve acceptable sales and favorable consumer perceptions when employing these positioning strategies. Desired profits, return on investment (ROI), and market share are associated with these positioning strategies although not as “sales” and favorable “consumers' perceptions”. The results further show that the pursuit of multiple positioning strategies relates to multiple performance indicators. The paper concludes by providing normative suggestions and discussing theoretical and managerial implications.     

Underdog consumption: An exploration into meanings and motives

Marketers frequently position business concerns - whether brands, teams, or stores - as the non market-dominant entity (or the “underdog”). This article examines the motives for underdog support through in-depth interviews and a focus group. Findings suggest that underdog consumers support underdogs out of empathy, as a way to ensure the maintenance of equal opportunity in competition, and as a way to provide personal inspiration. Some motives for underdog support can be interpreted to be anti-consumption (or, at least, anti-corporate) in nature. On the other hand, many underdog consumers support and identify with underdogs not necessarily as a way to keep the top dog down, but as a means to keep the little guy competing. Rather than solely “vote-against” behavior, “vote-for” behavior is very evident as well.     

The present-value model of the current account has been rejected: Round up the usual suspects

Tests of the present-value model (PVM) of the current account are frequently rejected by data. Standard explanations rely on the “usual suspects” of non-separable preferences, fiscal policy and world real interest rate shocks, external imperfect international capital mobility, and an internalized risk premium. We confirm these rejections on post-war Canadian data, then investigate their source by calibrating and simulating alternative versions of a small open economy, real business cycle model (RBC). Bayesian Monte Carlo experiments reveal that a “canonical” RBC model is close to the data, but far from the PVM predictions. Although each suspect matters in some way, none improve the fit to the data. However, the PVM restrictions are reproduced when the internalized risk premium is introduced into the canonical model. By adding the exogenous world real interest rate shock to this version of the model, it matches the data better and is moved closer to the PVM predictions. This suggests that there is an important common world component to current account fluctuations, which points to additional underlying macroeconomic factors that drive the current account.     

Willingness-to-engage in technology transfer in industry-university collaborations

Formal collaboration between universities and industries is a recent phenomenon. Currently the role of an industry-university collaboration (IUC) is to close the gap between industry and academia. This study aims to analyze the willingness to engage in technology transfer (TT) in IUCs from the three vantage points of the technology transferor (university), the technology transferee (industry), and the TT intermediary institute. This study mainly observes the pairwise relationships between influencing variables and sub-variables and willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of universities, this study shows that the “transferor's incentive” and “capability of transferor” variables positively influence willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of industry, the results indicate that “capability of transferee” and “incentive for establishing technological resources” have major influences on willingness to participate in TT in an IUC. From the vantage point of TT intermediary institutes, the results show that “intermediary's fundamental resources” and “intermediary's transferring process” have a positive impact on willingness to participate in TT in an IUC.     

Integrating qualitative and quantitative theoretical perspectives in applied advertising research

This review synthesizes the qualitative theoretical framework employed in Kennedy and McGarvey (in this issue), and posits a research paradigm to integrate and balance both qualitative and quantitative (“Q-Q”) methods in study design using “parallel perspective analysis” as shown in Table 1. Integrating both research perspectives enabled Kennedy and McGarvey to construct a phenomenological “story” of human movement in pet-related consumption attitudes and behavior during the last century, while maintaining a high level of empirical rigor. The method for quantifying a Q-Q research study can be used to develop future balanced research by scholars and practitioners concerned with capturing contextual phenomena in empirically rigorous consumer research.     

Marketing: Who's really minding the store globally?

In today's highly competitive global marketplace, firms have increasingly turned to outsourcing. In fact, it is not just “blue collar” jobs being outsourced, but “white collar” jobs, as well. Even marketing, “the window to the company's worldwide customer base,” is feeling outsourcing pressures. This article takes a look at the corporate implications of outsourcing global marketing functions and reports the findings of a telephone survey conducted among U.S. and Canadian marketing executives. U.S. firms were found to outsource marketing activities more frequently than Canadian firms, often at the expense of control and customer satisfaction.     

Information technology and innovation policy in the Bush era

The Bush Administration's technology policy includes a broad range of issues germane to the information technology sector of the economy, including eliminating the barriers to innovation, making the Internet a duty and tariff-free zone, and removing nontariff trade barriers. While the US Senate recently reverted to Democrat control, strong bipartisan support remains in Congress for much of the Bush agenda. Moreover, there is growing bipartisan congressional and industry support for “base-line” federal legislation to ensure the disclosure of Web site privacy policies and a choice of consumer “opt-in” or “opt-out”, with a strong likelihood of passage in the 107th Congress.     

Using consumer perceived ethicality as a guideline for corporate social responsibility strategy: A commentary essay

“Consumer Perceived Ethicality” presents a framework of perceived consumer ethicality as summarized from in-depth interviews with 20 citizens of the United Kingdom and Germany. The framework identifies six broad domains and 36 sub-items (6 for each domain) that serve as examples of consumer-generated “unethical corporate behaviors.” This commentary highlights the contributions, discusses the limitations and presents an alternative perspective on the study of consumer perceived ethicality.     

Export diversification: How much does the choice of the trading partner matter?

This paper studies how a country's export diversification varies across destination markets. It develops an extension of the Romalis (2004) model which yields two testable predictions. According to the first, exports between similarly endowed countries (“South–South” and “North–North”) are more diversified than exports between differently endowed countries (“South–North” and “North–South”). The second implication is that, for given countries' production patterns, low bilateral trade costs lead to greater export diversification. These predictions find empirical support in a panel of 102 trade partners and 4998 HS-6 industries over the period 1995–2007. Results show that similarities between trading partners in physical capital, land and human capital endowments per worker are associated with more diversified bilateral exports. Exports are also more diversified when bilateral trade costs are relatively low.     

Serving unfair customers

Companies commonly adopt “the customer is always right” maxim as a basic premise for delivering quality service. A close examination of customer behavior, however, reveals that customers can be not only wrong but also blatantly unjust. Unfair customers take advantage of being “always right” by demanding unwarranted privileges and compensation, adversely affecting companies and, in some cases, employees and other customers. Companies can actually strengthen their ability to deliver quality service by dealing effectively with unfair customers.     

Globalization and domestic conflict

When a resource like oil is domestically contested, trade patters and welfare can be very different than when property rights are costlessly enforced. Whereas (small-country) importers of the contested resource gain unambiguously relative to autarky, exporters of the contested resource lose under free trade, unless the world price of the resource is sufficiently high. Regardless of what price obtains in world markets, countries tend to over-export the contested resource compared to the absence of conflict. For a wide range of prices, higher international prices of the contested resource reduce welfare, an instance of the “natural resource curse.”     

Franchisor strategy and firm performance: Making the most of strategic resource investments

A key decision for entrepreneurs in many retail and service firms is whether, and how much, to use franchising. If the decision is made to franchise, the actor may assume one of two “identities” or tactics: (1) the “chain builder,” who uses a blend of company and franchised outlets, and (2) the “turnkey,” who sells business opportunities but does not own any outlets. To benefit from their chosen strategy, franchisors must put resources in place to support it. We argue that franchisors use the chain building strategy to strike a balance between standardization and innovation by building resources that foster trust and encourage knowledge sharing with franchisees. In contrast, for turnkeys, a valuable set of operational routines is the critical strategic resource. To better appreciate how franchisors choose between the chain builder and turnkey strategies, we gathered survey information from 263 franchisors. Via this data, and as described herein, we learned that franchisors perform better when they invest in resources that best support their selected strategy.     

The influence of online product recommendations on consumers’ online choices

This study investigates consumers’ usage of online recommendation sources and their influence on online product choices. A 3 (websites) × 4 (recommendation sources) × 2 (products) online experiment was conducted with 487 subjects. Results indicate that subjects who consulted product recommendations selected recommended products twice as often as subjects who did not consult recommendations. The online recommendation source labeled “recommender system,” typical of the personalization possibilities offered by online retailing, was more influential than more traditional recommendation sources such as “human experts” and “other consumers”. The type of product also had a significant influence on the propensity to follow product recommendations. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are provided.     

Avoiding a “me” versus “we” dilemma: Using performance management to turn teams into a source of competitive advantage

Teams are pervasive in today's world of work. Unfortunately, in many cases teams do not live up to their promise and, instead, lead to disappointing results. In this installation of Human Performance, we discuss how to design and implement performance management systems that include a good combination of both “me” and “we” considerations. We offer the following research-based recommendations: (1) use measures of individual and team performance, (2) use measures of processes and outcomes, (3) develop performance measures using input from inside and outside the team, (4) gather performance information using sources from inside and outside the team, (5) foster team learning and development, and (6) reward both individual and team performance. We discuss implementation guidelines for each of these recommendations that will help maximize individual and team performance as well as alignment among individual, team, and organizational goals. Implementing performance management systems following our recommendations will help organizations turn teams into an inimitable and sustainable source of competitive human capital advantage.     

Currency mismatches and monetary policy: A tale of two equilibria

We develop a model of a small economy whose residents choose whether to borrow in domestic or foreign currency. The central bank, in turn, chooses fixed or flexible exchange rates, taking the currency denomination of debts as given. We characterize the simultaneous determination of portfolios and exchange rate regime. Both floating and fixed rates can occur as equilibrium outcomes. “Fear of floating” may emerge endogenously and in association with a currency mismatch in assets and liabilities. If equilibria with both fixed rates and floating rates coexist, the latter is Pareto superior. Lessons for current “de-dollarization” proposals are discussed.     

Twin deficit or twin divergence? Fiscal policy, current account, and real exchange rate in the U.S.

In spite of concerns about “twin deficits” (fiscal and the current account deficits) for the United States economy, empirical evidence suggests that “twin divergence” is a more usual feature of the historical data, i.e., when fiscal accounts worsen, the current account improves and vice versa. This paper empirically studies the effects of fiscal policy (government budget deficit shocks) on the current account and the real exchange rate, during the flexible exchange rate regime period. Based on VAR (Vector Auto-Regression) models, we identified “exogenous” fiscal policy shocks after controlling for business cycle effects on fiscal balances. In contrast to the predictions of most theoretical models, the U.S. results suggest that an expansionary fiscal policy shock, or a government budget deficit shock, improve the current account and depreciate the real exchange rate. Increases in private savings and declines in investment contribute to the current account improvement while a nominal exchange rate depreciation, as opposed to a relative price level change, is mainly responsible for the real exchange rate depreciation. The “twin divergence” of fiscal balances and current account balances is also explained by the prevalence of output shocks, i.e. output shocks — more than fiscal shocks — appear to drive the co-movements of the current account and the fiscal balance.     

A commentary on “Understanding Dog-Human Companionship”

“Understanding Dog-Human Companionship” is important insofar as the article is a quantitative study that validates many qualitative studies of the human-dog relationship and the meanings that dogs have to their owners. The article suggests questions about consumer behavior that go beyond dog ownership. Aspects of dog ownership could be applied to ownership or “consumption” of many things — including cars, spouses, and children.     

Going “purple”: Can military jointness principles provide a key to more successful integration at the marketing-manufacturing interface?

When the colors of all the U.S. armed services’ uniforms are combined, the color purple appears; therefore, military insiders refer to inter-service operations as “purple” operations. Now a core concept, the “jointness” of U.S. military strategic response to a critical operational failure encapsulates principles and processes through which two or more armed services are best able to integrate strategies, strengths, and capabilities in ways that yield genuine synergies, despite the differences in mission and culture that naturally separate the services. The now ingrained ability of military services to “go purple” quickly has materially contributed to strategic and operational successes during the last 20 years. The internal circumstances as well as global environmental challenges faced by domestic firms, particularly at the marketing-manufacturing (M-M) interface, resonate with those faced by the U.S. military. Firms may benefit from evaluating the prospect of “going purple” at this crucial point of interface. This article integrates military-like jointness principles into an organizational framework that functions as a guide to pursuing cross-functional M-M integration more successfully. The framework also provides a methodology through which managers can determine whether and how much purple ought to be pursued.     

Embracing the whole individual: Advantages of a dual-centric perspective of work and life

In today's often complicated and fast-paced world, individuals are pulled in many different directions. Balancing work and personal roles—including those of parent, spouse, caregiver, volunteer, and so forth—can be a daunting task. In the literature, identity theory speaks to the multi-faceted existence employees face, beyond that of just “worker.” The differing roles individuals occupy have traditionally been viewed as competing, implicitly suggesting that attention to one area of a person's life necessarily detracts from the others, and that juggling and managing multiple roles causes stress and emotional strain. To explore the verity of this notion we conducted a study, which is described herein. Of significance, 55% of our sample indicated that they were dual-centric; that is, individuals who value both their work and non-work roles equally. In this article, we build on extant research and find support for the belief that dual-centrics experience more overall satisfaction, greater work-life balance, and less emotional exhaustion. Given the seeming increase in employees’ dual-centric focus, it is rational to suggest that one way in which organizations can improve and enhance employee well-being is by embracing them as whole individuals. This article explores that notion, and provides innovative examples from Fortune magazine's “100 Best Companies to Work For” list regarding how this objective can be accomplished.