The role of slotting fees and introductory allowances in retail buyers’ new-product acceptance decisions

Although slotting fees and introductory allowances have become well established in the grocery and other industries, they remain a source of controversy among channel members. Retailers claim that these fees and allowances help mitigate the risks associated with new-product acceptance. Manufacturers counter that retailers are abusing slotting fees and allowances by using them as a source of profit. The authors investigate this controversy by empirically examining the role of slotting fees and allowances in the retail buyers’ product acceptance decision process. Results provide evidence to suggest that introductory allowances are indeed being used by retailers in the sample to offset perceived risks and costs of carrying new products. However, findings regarding slotting fees are much less supportive of retailers’ claims. J. Chris White (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor at the University of Central Florida. His primary research and teaching interests include marketing strategy and management, retail management, international strategy, and promotion strategy. Lisa C. Troy (Ph.D., Texas A&M University) is an assistant professor of marketing at Utah State University. Her primary research and teaching interests include product innovation and new product development, marketing strategy, retail management, and international marketing. R. Nicholas Gerlich (Ph.D., Indiana University) is an associate professor of marketing at West Texas A&M University. He is actively involved in the development of Web-based courses and has research interests in the marketing of new products.     

Consumer ethnocentrism: A test of antecedents and moderators

This article identifies theoretical antecedents of consumer ethnocentricity and the effect ethnocentricity has on evaluations toward importing products. Hypotheses pertaining to the relationship between the identified antecedents and consumer ethnocentricity are developed based on an extensive review of the ethnocentrism and country-of-origin literatures. Also identified are factors moderating the effect of ethnocentric tendencies on consumers’ attitudes toward importing products. The hypotheses are subjected to an empirical test using data collected in Korea. He has published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, and elsewhere. He has published inJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and elsewhere. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of South Carolina.     

Word-of-mouth communications in marketing: a meta-analytic review of the antecedents and moderators

Although word-of-mouth (WOM) activity has been studied as an outcome variable of other constructs such as satisfaction, less attention has been given to the antecedents and moderators of WOM when considering WOM as a central construct. Hence, we propose a model of WOM antecedents and moderators using a meta-analytic review. The results show that all antecedents have significant effects on WOM activity, with customer commitment showing the strongest effect. The following hypotheses are also supported: (1) WOM valence is a significant moderator, (2) cross-sectional studies show a stronger influence of satisfaction and loyalty on WOM activity than longitudinal studies, and (3) studies of WOM behavior show a weaker link between loyalty and WOM activity than studies of WOM intentions. In addition, we show that satisfaction has a stronger relationship with positive WOM than loyalty, whereas (dis)loyalty has a stronger relationship with negative WOM than does (dis)satisfaction. We discuss this finding based on the different natures of positive and negative WOM. This article is based on the first author’s dissertation.     

Gaining comparative advantage in supply chain relationships: the mediating role of market-oriented IT competence

Trading partners continue to make significant investments in information technology (IT) infrastructure to facilitate the flow of market information across supply chains, yet the underlying mechanisms linking IT implementation to firm performance have not been clearly specified. Drawing on the resource-advantage theory of competition, we develop and test a model that proposes market-oriented IT competence as a mediator of the effects of a firm’s IT infrastructure on market information flow which, in turn, yields comparative advantages in supply chain relationships. Market-oriented IT competence is conceptualized as a firm’s ability to deploy an IT infrastructure in support of the organization-wide collection, dissemination and use of market information to respond to market needs. We test the effects of market-oriented IT competence using data collected from managers in the logistics services industry. Findings show that market-oriented IT competence is a critical link between IT infrastructure and comparative advantage in supply chain relationships.     

Effects of accountability on symbolic information search and information analysis by organizational buyers

Most studies of the organizational buying process assume that buyers acquire and use information “prosocially”—to make better decisions and promote their company’s welfare. The authors propose, however, that demands to account for their behavior causes organizational buyers to also gather and use information for political purposes—to protect their own self-interest. The authors present the results of an empirical study that investigates the extent to which four types of accountability—informal, official, process, and decision accountability—result in political (or symbolic) information search and prosocial information analysis by organizational buyers. Study findings suggest that buyers accountable to superiors and those accountable to subordinates or peers engage in more symbolic information search. Buyers accountable for their decision-making process analyze information more extensively. Surprisingly, buyers accountable for decision outcomes neither search for symbolic information nor analyze information more extensively. She received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include industrial buying behavior, business-to-business relationships, and international marketing. She has published articles in theJournal of International Marketing and theJournal of Macromarketing, as well as various conference proceedings. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His research interests are in the marketing strategy and public policy areas. His work has been published inJournal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Journal of Advertising Research, and several other journals.     

Selling strategies: The effects of suggesting a decision structure to novice and expert buyers

This research investigates the impact of selling strategies on selling effectiveness. The authors compare two selling strategies: (1) an agenda strategy, in which a salesperson attempts to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision by suggesting constraints that eliminate competitive products from consideration, and (2) a more typical selling strategy that summarizes the target product’s benefits. The results show that when sellers use an agenda selling strategy, target products receive higher evaluations and have higher probabilities of being considered and chosen. Buyer expertise moderates this effect, with the agenda strategy in most cases having more impact on novice buyers than on expert buyers. These findings demonstrate the importance of selling strategy to selling effectiveness, suggest the potential benefit for sellers of using selling strategies that attempt to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision, and provide support for the contingent nature of selling effectiveness. Judy A. Wagner (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) is currently an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her primary research interests are personal selling strategies, sales management, and buyer decision making. Her research has been published inAdvances in Consumer Research and the proceedings of the American Marketing Association and is forthcoming in theJournal of Business Research. Noreen M. Klein (Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her research interests include consumer decision making and the behavioral aspects of pricing, and her research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research andOrganizational Behavior and Human Decision Making. Janet E. Keith (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is currently an associate professor of marketing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Her research interests lie in behavioral issues in channels of distribution and in sales and sales management. Her studies have been published in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, andJournal of Marketing Channels.     

The role of emotional exhaustion in sales force attitude and behavior relationships

Emotional exhaustion is a potentially important construct in examining sales force behavior and attitude relationships. A conceptual model and hypotheses are developed to study the antecedents and consequences of the emotional exhaustion construct. The hypotheses are tested using LISREL 7 to analyze data from a sample of field salespeople from a large international services organization. The empirical results offer strong support for relationships involving role ambiguity and conflict antecedents and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention-to-leave consequences of emotional exhaustion. Emin Babakus (Ph.D. University of Alabama, 1985) is a professor of marketing and associate dean for faculty at the Fogelman College of Business & Economics, University of Memphis. His research interests are in the areas of measurement, sales management, services, and international marketing. His research has been published in a number of journals, including theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Retailing, andJournal of Advertising Research. David W. Cravens holds the West Chair of American Enterprise Studies at Texas Christian University. He is a former editor of theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He is the author ofStrategic Marketing (Irwin/McGraw-Hill). Mark Johnston is a professor of marketing at the Roy E. Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College. He earned his Ph.D. in marketing in 1986 from Texas A&M University. Prior to receiving his doctorate, he worked in industry as a sales representative for a leading distributor of photographic equipment. Dr. Johnston's research interests focus on sales force management issues that include analyzing the affect of role stress on salesperson attitudes and behavior, reducing unwanted turnover, and improving performance. In addition, he conducts research on a wide range of other topics, including international marketing management, ethics, and promotional strategy. His research has been published in a number of professional journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, International Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, and theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. William C. Moncrief is a professor of marketing at Texas Christian University and former chair of the Marketing Department. He has published extensively in the sales and sales management areas. He is coauthor ofSales Management (Addison-Wesley).     

The effectiveness of publicity versus advertising: a meta-analytic investigation of its moderators

This study provides an answer to the question whether and under which conditions publicity is more or less effective than advertising. Advertising refers to paid communication that identifies the message sponsor, whereas publicity is communication that secures editorial space in media for promotion purposes and does not have an identifiable sponsor. The primary advantage of advertising over publicity is the sponsor’s control over message content; its disadvantages are audience skepticism and lack of credibility. We investigate this trade-off between credibility effects and effects of recipients’ processing and evaluation of message content. Results of a meta-analytic structural equation model show that the positive credibility effect of publicity is on average about three times as strong as the information evaluation effect, supporting the overall superiority of publicity over advertising. This effect, however, is moderated by prior knowledge and only holds for products about which recipients lack prior knowledge. The effects change for known products when advertising becomes superior. The effectiveness of publicity depends on further moderating variables. In particular, academic studies tend to underestimate the true effects of publicity over advertising due to experimental manipulations. Campaigns that combine publicity and advertising weaken the effects of publicity, whereas advertorials (i.e., advertisements disguised as editorial material) are more effective, since they combine the advantages of both publicity and advertising. The results have theoretical and practical implications.     

The role of corporate social responsibility in strengthening multiple stakeholder relationships: A field experiment

This research relied on a field experiment involving a real-world instance of corporate philanthropy to shed light on both the scope and limitations of the strategic returns to corporate social responsibility (CSR). In particular, the authors demonstrate that the impact of CSR in the real world is not only less pervasive than has been previously acknowledged but also more multifaceted than has been previously conceptualized. The findings indicated that contingent on CSR awareness, which was rather low, stakeholders did react positively to the focal company not only in the consumption domain but in the employment and investment domains as well. Stakeholder attributions regarding the genuineness of the company’s motives moderated these effects. Sankar Sen (sankar_sen@baruch.cuny.edu) is a professor of marketing at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in marketing in 1993 from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on consumer decision making. He is interested, more specifically, in consumer reactions to company actions, particularly in the domain of CSR. His research has appeared inCalifornia Management Review, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Economic Theory, and others. C. B. Bhattacharya (cb@bu.edu) received his Ph.D. in marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and his M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in 1984. Prior to joining Boston University, he was on the faculty at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. His specific expertise is in the areas of customer retention and the roles of CSR and organizational identification in designing marketing strategy. He served on the editorial review board of theJournal of Marketing from 2002 to 2005 and has published in journals such as theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, andOrganization Science. He speaks frequently at many academic and business forums and won the William Novelli Best Paper Award at the Social Marketing Conference in 1997. Dr. Bhattacharya received the 2001 Broderick Prize for Research Excellence at Boston University and the Emory Williams Distinguished Teaching Award in 1995, the highest teaching award at Emory University. He is also part of the select group of faculty members onBusiness Week’s Outstanding Faculty list. Prior to his Ph.D., he worked for 3 years as a product manager for Reckitt Benkiser PLC. He has consulted for organizations such as the Hitachi Corporation, Procter & Gamble Company, Bell South, The Prudential Bank, Information Resources Inc., Airwick Industries, Silo Inc., and the High Museum of Art. Daniel Korschun (danielk@bu.edu) is a doctoral candidate in marketing at Boston University. His current research interests include brand management, CSR, and interorganizational relationships.     

Bundle evaluation in different market segments: The effects of discount framing and buyers’ preference heterogeneity

Heterogeneity of buyers’ preferences has played a significant role in the earlier economic analyses of bundling and continues to be important in the recent investigations initiated by marketing and consumer researchers. Guided by a decision-framing conceptualization, this study suggests that in a market characterized by heterogeneous preferences for items included in a bundle offer, buyers’ bundle evaluations may vary significantly depending on which item is featured as the price leader (i.e., the discounted item). When two unequally preferred items were evaluated for purchase as a set, bundle evaluation was more enhanced when the price leader was also the more preferred item. Thus, under such preference conditions, bundle evaluation may be quite sensitive to the choice of the price leader. Besides highlighting the importance of incorporating psychological considerations in bundling research, the results of this study also raise questions about the validity of a key assumption made in the extant analyses of bundling strategies. Specifically, perceived savings on one item may not always transfer readily to other items included in a bundle offer. He received his Ph.D. in marketing from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research interests include price perception, pricing strategy, price bundling, and decision making. His research has been published in theJournal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, andReview of Marketing. He is a member of the editorial advisory board ofPricing Strategy & Practice.     

An exploration of the moderating role of buyer corporate culture in industrial buyer-seller relationships

In this study, the authors examine industrial buyer-seller relationships, exploring the influence of buyer perceptions of their relationships on their repurchase intentions. In particular close relationships as opposed to pure transactions, are examined. Using data collected from buyers of industrial goods and services, the authors examine the association between buyers' perceptions of relationship quality and repurchase intentions and the moderating effect of the corporate culture of the buying firms. The results suggest a significant relationship between buyer perceptions of the relationship and their repurchase intentions, as well as a significant moderating effect of buyer firm corporate culture. The implications of these findings for the study of marketing relationships, as well as for marketing practice, are also offered. Kelly Hewett is an assistant professor of marketing at Winthrop University. Her research focuses on the management of relationships between buyers and sellers as well as between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries in managing the marketing function globally. Her research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of International Marketing, andPsychology and Marketing. R. Bruce Money is an associate professor of international business at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. His research interests include international aspects of business-to-business marketing, word-of-mouth promotion, services marketing, and negotiation. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, andSloan Management Review. Subhash Sharma is a professor of marketing and the Charles W. Coker Sr. Distinguished Foundation Fellow at the Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina. His research interests include research methods, pricing, CRM, and e-commerce. His research has been published in major marketing and related journals, and he serves on the editorial review board of theJournal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Reserch, andJournal of Retailing.     

Seeing relationships through the lens of psychological contracts: the structure of consumer service relationships

Serving as mental models, psychological contracts guide consumers’ service interactions with their service providers. This study incorporates a psychological contract perspective into the relationship marketing literature, exploring service customers’ beliefs about the terms and conditions of the resource exchange process and the types of relationships they form with service providers. It provides new insights that explain why and how some customers respond favorably to a company’s relationship overtures and investments while others do not. A latent class analysis on a sample of 700 consumers across three different service industries reveals that consumers form four distinct types of psychological contracts: relational, standard, transitional, and captive. To further validate the differences between the contract types, open-ended responses from the respondents were sorted by each class. The distinctive themes that emerged provide a richer understanding of the characteristics of each class beyond those inferred from the quantitative results. Each contract type is also profiled against its underlying level of trust, satisfaction, and commitment to understand the relationship between the contract types and these traditional relationship marketing variables. Marketers can differentiate their relationship marketing strategies and allocate their resource investments more effectively by segmenting consumers according to their psychological contract type.     

Managing culturally diverse buyer-seller relationships: The role of intercultural disposition and adaptive selling in developing intercultural communication competence

Given the increase in cultural diversity within marketing organizations as well as within current and potential customer bases, possessing the appropriate communication skills becomes crucial to success in managing culturally diverse relationships. Although marketing researchers have recognized the importance of adaptive selling behavior for successful buyer-seller relationships, the exploration of the intercultural aspects of these relationships has only recently begun. This article examines how adaptive selling behaviors and intercultural dispositions of marketing executives contribute to their perceived intercultural communication competence. Results show that in addition to being adaptive, the intercultural disposition of a marketer is of key importance in developing intercultural communication competence. Theoretical and practical implications for incorporating intercultural communication into the development of successful buyer-seller relationships are discussed. Victoria D. Bush (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. Her research has appeared in such journals as theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, theJournal of Public Policy and Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, and theJournal of Services Marketing. Her research interests are in diversity, advertising, and ethics. Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research interests include consumer socialization and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published or has forthcoming articles in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Consumer Psychology, theJournal of Advertising, theJournal of Marketing, and other journals and proceedings. Faye Gilbert (Ph.D., University of North Texas) is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Mississippi. She has published in theJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, theJournal of Health Care Marketing, theJournal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics, theJournal of Applied Business Research, theJournal of Marketing Management, theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and theJournal of Marketing Education, among others. Her work emphasizes the application of consumer behavior theory to health care and to channel relationships. Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is a professor of marketing at Colorado State University. He has been honored as the Marketing Educator of the Year by Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) and as a recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau National Marketing Honor Society Recognition Award for Outstanding Scholarly Contributions to the Sales Discipline. He has served as the editor of theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and is the current editor of theJournal of Marketing Theory and Practice. His primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, theJournal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among others. He is the coauthor of three textbooks:Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach, Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, andMarketing: Principles and Perspectives.     

The contingent effect of specific asset investments on joint action in manufacturer-supplier relationships: An empirical test of the moderating role of reciprocal asset investments, uncertainty, and trust

Prior research provides evidence that manufacturer investment of specific assets dedicated to a particular supplier (manufacturer asset specificity) is an antecedent of joint action in manufacturer-supplier relationships. The authors build on prior research to identify several variables that moderate the effect of manufacturer asset specificity o on joint action. Drawing from transaction cost analysis and relational exchange theory, the authors propose a conceptual model that explicates the moderating role of three contextual variables: specific asset investments by the supplier (reciprocal asset investments), manufacturer decision-making uncertainty, and manufacturer trust in the supplier. Consistent with their hypotheses, results from a survey of firms in three SIC codes show that decision-making uncertainty and trust enhance the effect of manufacturer asset specificity on joint action. Contrary to expectation, however, the moderating effect of reciprocal asset investments was not significant. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results are discussed. Ashwin W. Joshi is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Calgary. He received his Ph.D. from Queen’s University (Canada). His research has been published inJournal of Business Research, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Marketing Channels, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, as well as in many conference proceedings. Rodney L. Stump is an associate professor of marketing at Morgan State University. He received his Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. His research has appeared inJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, Industrial Marketing Management, The International Executive, and other journals. He has also presented his research at numerous national and international conferences.     

农业产业市场绩效:业绩与潜力

1985-2004年中国农业产业的生产能力保持着稳步提高的趋势,农业技术进步成为农业产业增长的主要源泉;农业规模经营、农业机械化和农业相关产业发展状况是制约中国农业产业市场绩效的重要因素。培育农业产业共生组织,培养新型农民,大力发展农产品加工业和农业社会化服务体系,是提高中国农业产业市场绩效的可行途径。     

A customer perspective on product eliminations: how the removal of products affects customers and business relationships

Regardless of the apparent need for product eliminations, many managers hesitate to act as they fear deleterious effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Other managers do carry out product eliminations, but often fail to consider the consequences for customers and business relationships. Given the relevance and problems of product eliminations, research on this topic in general and on the consequences for customers and business relationships in particular is surprisingly scarce. Therefore, this empirical study explores how and to what extent the elimination of a product negatively affects customers and business relationships. Results indicate that eliminating a product may result in severe economic and psychological costs to customers, thereby seriously decreasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This paper also shows that these costs are not exogenous in nature. Instead, depending on the characteristics of the eliminated product these costs are found to be more or less strongly driven by a company’s behavior when implementing the elimination at the customer interface.     

浅析申奥成功后桂林旅游业的机遇与对策

在分析了申奥成功我国旅游业面临的机遇和挑战及历届奥运给旅游业带来的经验借鉴基础上，重点阐述了桂林作为世界旅游名域如何把握奥旅结合，抓住机遇，促进桂林旅游经济的腾飞。     

TPP对我国纺织服装出口竞争力的潜在影响分析

利用出口市场占有率、TC指数和RCA指数三项指标对我国和TPP成员国的纺织服装出口竞争力进行了对比研究,结果表明:我国纺织服装产业的出口市场占有率稳步上升,且始终保持大额顺差,但RCA指数出现了下降的趋势,且小于越南纺织服装的RCA指数。TPP成功实施后的纺织服装价格竞争力变化、"从纱认定"的原产地规则、其他高标准的谈判议题将会降低我国纺织服装贸易的出口竞争力。指出我国应密切关注TPP谈判进展、加强对外区域合作、提高纺织服装出口标准以应对上述因素对我国纺织服装出口竞争力的影响。     

海上通道对中国-东盟贸易潜力的影响研究

采用1994～2015年涵盖全球45个国家的面板数据,运用固定效应、混合效应、随机效应模型,分阶段、分国别量化评估海上通道对中国-东盟贸易潜力的影响。结果显示:中国-东盟自由贸易区对中国进口贸易促进作用正逐年减弱,对出口贸易促进作用正逐步增强;航运距离与进出口贸易成反比,航运距离缩短1%,中国对东盟的进口增加0. 57%,出口增加0. 18%;货物周转时间与进出口贸易呈显著负相关,且对进口贸易的阻碍作用小于出口贸易;中国对东盟国家进口属于贸易不足型,出口属于贸易适度型,且不同成员国个体贸易潜力差异明显。     

掘析河北省旅游业发展潜力

在世界旅游业迅速发展,中国旅游业不断创造财富的背景下,河北省的旅游业发展相对于周边省市处于落后水平,而被河北省包围着的首都北京,其旅游业发展居全国前列,这对河北省来说既是机遇,又是挑战,为了从中找出河北省旅游业的发展潜力,选择相对数字,从入境游综合情况、游客消费构成和旅游资源三个方面与河北省进行对比分析,从差距中发现机遇,从对比分析中得到河北省经济增长潜力点,并提出相应潜力开发对策,以促进河北省旅游业的发展。