When marketing strategy meets culture: the role of culture in product evaluations

This research investigates how national culture interacts with marketing strategy to influence consumers’ organic post-consumption satisfaction ratings of entertainment products rich in cultural content. Drawing upon a communication theory framework, we develop hypotheses concerning multiple interaction effects between culture and marketing strategies on consumers’ product evaluations. We test these hypotheses by analyzing consumer reviews of 260 movies in 25 country markets. In support of our hypotheses, we find that the cultural congruence between the product and the market improves consumer reviews, and that the effect is stronger in cultures characterized by collectivism, femininity, and uncertainty avoidance, as well as for products more heavily loaded with cultural content. In addition, we find that the negative effect of delay in product launch timing weakens for cultures characterized by long-term orientation, and that the positive effect of advertising spending on consumer evaluations is stronger in cultures characterized by high power distance belief. These results provide practical insights into how managers should make decisions concerning product design, launch timing, and advertising strategies in international markets.     

Activation of country stereotypes: automaticity, consonance, and impact

Country-of-origin (COO) research typically regards COO cue usage as a conscious and controlled process dependent on consumers’ intention to use COO information. However, emerging evidence indicates that country stereotypes can affect consumers’ brand evaluations regardless of intention. In three complementary experiments, this study investigates how the mere presence of country cues can trigger different kinds of country stereotypes (functional vs. emotional) which subsequently automatically influence consumers’ cognitive and affective brand evaluations as well as brand-related behavior. Findings confirm the automatic influence of country stereotypes and suggest that brand evaluations and brand-related behavior are enhanced when the underlying country stereotype matches the advertising execution format. On the other hand, mismatches can result in adverse effects. A follow-up study further reveals that cognitive and affective brand evaluations mediate COO effects on brand-related behavior. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are considered and future research directions identified.     

广西工业品牌拓展东盟市场的路径探析

东盟市场已经成为广西工业产品的主要出口市场,广西著名工业品牌、一般工业品牌、新创工业品牌在品牌知名度、产品质量、技术先进性、国际经营人才和经验等方面有较大差异,这些品牌所在企业在开拓东盟市场时"创建品牌"、"推广品牌"、"亮响品牌"、"伸展品牌"的路径和过程就不同,采取"单独开拓"、或"与文化产业联姻开拓"、或"与国内外品牌联姻开拓"的方式也有别,应针对不同品牌特性,采取不同的路径和对策,进一步拓展东盟市场,促进广西工业品在东盟市场的转型升级。     

Does advertising spending really work? The intermediate role of analysts in the impact of advertising on firm value

Both managers and investors are increasingly concerned with the impact of advertising spending on shareholder returns. This study investigates the analyst-based processes by which advertising may create firm value. Using a large longitudinal dataset with 1,052 firms over 20 years, we find that firms decreasing from the top 20% to the bottom 20% of advertising spending group when compared to all industry competitors would experience a drop of abnormal return by 4.08% in 1 year and a cumulative total of 81.6% in 20 years. Also, analyst activities partially mediate the impact of advertising on firm return and risk. These findings indicate that analysts may act to externally validate the business logic underlying the advertising expense. The more analysts factor in firm advertising spending and reflect it in their earnings forecasts, the more likely the benefits of advertising are channeled into firm value. The results bridge research interests across marketing, accounting, and finance disciplines and help managers understand how product and financial markets are united. Main Street could better align with Wall Street via corporate disclosure of advertising spending to equity analysts.     

Firm-hosted online brand communities and new product success

Many firms use online brand communities to support the launch of their new products. This study proposes a typology of firm-hosted online brand communities and examines whether such a classification system can improve predictions of new product success. A cross-industry analysis of 81 firm-hosted online brand communities shows that these communities reflect three archetypes. A subsequent survey of 170 community-hosting firms in the consumer durable goods industry reveals that the three types of communities are not equally important for new product success. Moreover, one archetype generally underperforms the other two as a new product support mechanism. Overall, the results demonstrate that firm-hosted online brand communities can be a predictor of new product success.     

基于logistic增长模型的黄山风景区品牌演化分析

旅游景区品牌塑造的优劣日益成为景区能否巩固和拓展市场、取得利润的保证。以黄山风景区为例,运用logistic增长模型对其品牌演化进行定量模拟预测,判断其品牌演化所处阶段,针对各阶段,结合黄山风景区旅游大事记及其品牌管理、营销措施,从资源特色、管理模式创新、品牌形象宣传等方面进一步分析和归纳推动黄山风景区品牌演化的核心动力因素,为政府和营销者进一步提升黄山风景区品牌力,在制定营销方案和策略方面提供一定参考。     

中间产品市场价格歧视与纵向控制研究评述

现有经济学文献对价格歧视的研究主要集中在最终消费品市场上,关注的焦点是拥有垄断势力的厂商对消费者实施的歧视性行为。但在现实生活中,大部分商品的销售是面向中间需求的,在这样的产业链纵向关联中,生产商可能会向购买投入品的下游厂商实行价格歧视。由此,价格歧视也成为了一种重要的产业链纵向控制策略。鉴于最终消费品市场与中间产品市场的本质区别,理论研究的结果也有很大不同。本文将对有关中间产品市场价格歧视的经典论题和最新研究成果加以介绍和评述,并提出对规制政策的几点启示。     

企业异质性、中间品进口与出口绩效——基于中国企业微观数据的实证研究

本文在企业异质性理论的框架下,采用中国海关数据库2000~2006年高度细分的进出口数据,从不同的维度出发,全面分析了中间品进口对企业出口绩效的影响。回归结果显示:与不使用进口中间品的企业相比,使用进口中间品的企业具有更大的出口额、更多的出口产品种类及更高的出口持续可能性。而且,伴随着企业使用进口中间品数量和种类的增加,这种影响更加显著。同时,进一步研究显示,企业使用进口中间品质量的提升对其出口产品的质量升级有明显的促进作用。此外,从中间品的进口来源国看,企业使用从高技术国家进口的中间品对其出口绩效的影响更大。本文的结论在去掉加工贸易样本以及将解释变量滞后一期后依然稳健。这一系列结论对中国制定贸易政策以使企业更好地参与国际竞争、实现经济持续健康发展具有重要意义。     

Empirical tests of two stochastic models of consumer brand choice

In this paper, the Bernoulli and the First Order brand switching models are put to test on two sets of panel data. Non-aggregate analysis indicates that a Bernoulli process may explain the brand choice behavior of consumers for frequently bought nondurable products. However, aggregate process seems to be of higher order. Moreover, the use of a simultaneous inference technique on consumer panel data is demonstrated. Based on a doctoral dissertation at the University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y. 14627.     

Can copycat private labels improve the consumer’s shopping experience? A fluency explanation

A top priority among retailers is enhancing the consumer’s shopping experience. With the number of private label products increasing at the same time retailers are shedding slower moving products, understanding how private labels impact the consumer’s experience at the retail shelf becomes critical. While one might think that private labels, in particular those that look similar to their national brand counterparts (i.e., copycat private labels), may hinder the shopping experience by making it more difficult for consumers to choose a product, we find the exact opposite. Adopting a fluency perspective, we show that when copycat private labels are included in a shelf set, consumers with high knowledge of the category experience greater choice ease, and as a result they subsequently evaluate their chosen product more favorably. Importantly, the choice ease and evaluations of novice consumers are found to be unaffected. Consequently, this research provides insights for retailers and manufacturers on how and why copycat private labels positively impact an important aspect of the consumer’s shopping experience (i.e., choice ease).     

How brand innovativeness creates advertising flexibility

We advance a broadened conceptualization of advertising context effects by considering how consumer response is influenced by the competitive advertising context. This contextual variable reflects how typically or atypically advertising tactics are employed by brands in a product category. Study 1 demonstrates that employing an advertising tactic that is perceived by consumers as atypical in a category undermines its influence on brand attitudes. Study 2 shows that this persuasion penalty is circumvented by innovative brands through a phenomenon we refer to as advertising flexibility that enables innovative brands to successfully employ advertising tactics under a wider range of conditions than non-innovative brands. A final study provides process evidence for this effect by showing that brand attitudes are determined by advertising content for innovative brands but by considerations of the competitive advertising context for non-innovative brands.     

Non-local or local brands? A multi-level investigation into confidence in brand origin identification and its strategic implications

This article addresses a growing dilemma surrounding the strategic value of perceived brand foreignness (PBF) among consumers in emerging economies. Building on recent research evidence from the brand origin literature, we introduce the concept of confidence in brand origin identification (CBO) and theorize its moderating impact on the value of PBF in explaining and predicting brand evaluation. Using a multi-level modeling technique, this study provides evidence showing that CBO moderates the effect of PBF on consumer evaluations of brand value. Moreover, the moderating influence of CBO is found to be more profound for local than for foreign brands. Managerial implications for building both global and local brands in emerging markets are discussed.     

高强品牌的功能与法律保护综合研究

使用市场营销学、法学、经济学、语言学与心理学的方法对品牌功能进行综合研究,认为高强品牌具有保障产品质量、降低消费者搜寻成本并能满足消费者心理需求等功能,高强品牌同时还可以使品牌所有者通过各种途径来扩大其经济利益。通过对高强品牌的功能研究发现不仅仿冒行为会损害高强品牌的价值,而且其他与高强品牌相联系的行为均会造成高强品牌价值的贬损。因此,美国法律也随着品牌功能的不断变化而逐步扩大其保护的范围(尤其是对高强品牌的保护),以适应品牌发展的需求。     

The effects of customer equity drivers on loyalty across services industries and firms

Customer equity drivers (CEDs)—value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity—positively affect loyalty intentions, but this effect varies across industries and firms. We empirically examine potential industry and firm characteristics that explain why the CEDs–loyalty link varies across services industries and firms in the Netherlands. The results show that (1) some previously assumed industry and firm characteristics have moderating effects while others do not and (2) firm-level advertising expenditures constitute the most crucial moderator because they influence all three loyalty strategies (significant for value equity and brand equity; marginally significant for relationship equity), while three industry contexts (i.e., innovative markets, visibility to others, and complexity of purchase decisions) each influence two of the three loyalty strategies. Our results clearly show that specific industry and firm characteristics affect the effectiveness of specific loyalty strategies.     

Marketers’ use of alternative front-of-package nutrition symbols: An examination of effects on product evaluations

How front-of-package (FOP) nutrition icon systems affect product evaluations for more and less healthful objective nutrition profiles is a critical question facing food marketers, consumers, and the public health community. We propose a conceptually-based hierarchical continuum to guide predictions regarding the effectiveness of several FOP systems currently used in the marketplace. In Studies 1a and 1b, we compare the effects of a broad set of FOP icons on nutrition evaluations linked to health, accuracy of evaluations, and purchase intentions for a single product. Based on these findings, Studies 2 and 3 test the effects of two conceptually-different FOP icon systems in a retail laboratory in which consumers make comparative evaluations of multiple products at the retail shelf. While there are favorable effects of each system beyond control conditions with no FOP icons, results show that icons with an evaluative component that aid consumers’ interpretations generally provide greater benefits (particularly in product comparison contexts). We offer implications for consumer packaged goods marketers, retailers, and the public policy and consumer health communities.     

Price and brand name as indicators of quality dimensions for consumer durables

Delivering quality products requires an understanding of the critical dimensions and cues that consumers use to judge quality. To that end, this article addresses two fundamental research issues. Using a qualitative study, the authors first develop a generalizable typology of quality dimensions for durable goods that includes ease of use, versatility, durability, serviceability, performance, and prestige. Second, the authors conduct a process-tracing laboratory experiment to examine how key marketing variables—price, brand name, and product attributes—affect consumers’ judgment processes and inferences about how products perform on the six quality dimensions. Results of the experiment indicate that consumers use price and brand name differently to judge the quality dimensions, searching for price and brand name much more frequently when evaluating prestige than when evaluating any other quality dimension. Results suggest that managers must determine the relevant quality dimensions for a product category and the cues that are salient for judging those dimensions. Merrie Brucks is a professor of marketing at the University of Arizona, where she also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology. She received her Ph. D. in marketing from Carnegie Mellon University. Her research first received scholarly recognition in 1984, when she won the Robert Ferber Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of consumer behavior. Since that time, she has published extensively in consumer psychology, focusing on memory, information search, judgment, and decision-making processes. In other research she has examined a variety of public policy issues related to advertising. Valarie A. Zeithaml is a professor and area chair at the Kenan-Flagler Business School of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is also a Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Scholar at that institution. She obtained an MBA and doctorate from the University of Maryland and has devoted the past 20 years to researching and teaching the topics of service quality and services management. She is the author ofDelivery Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations and ofServices Marketing, a textbook now in its second edition. She has won numerous teaching and research awards, including the Ferber Award from theJournal of Consumer Research, the Maynard Award from theJournal of Marketing, the Jagdish Sheth Award from theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and the O’Dell Award from theJournal of Marketing Research. Gillian Naylor is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She obtained a doctorate from the University of Arizona in 1996. Her research interests are within the consumer judgment and decision-making domain, with specific interest in postpurchase processes and services marketing.     

Rethinking the effect of perceived fit on customers’ evaluations of new products

Prior research has demonstrated that customer evaluations of a new product are directly related to the degree to which a company’s skills are perceived to “fit” with those required to provide the new product. This finding has led to recommendations that firms focus on perceptually close new product areas. However, many firms have successfully entered perceptually distant markets. We reconcile this apparent contradiction by proposing that the effect of perceived fit on new product evaluation is not direct, but is mediated by the certainty a customer has that a company can deliver the proposed new product. Our findings indicate that, by itself, perceived fit has a positive impact on industrial product evaluations. However, the relationship between fit and new product evaluations, previously held to be direct, is instead mediated by customer certainty. That is, when the effect of customer certainty is considered, the direct effect of fit disappears. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. His research interests include management of brand equity, and competitive analysis. His research has been published inJournal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Advertising Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Services Marketing andPlanning Review. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in “marketing creativity,” and the management of mature products. Her research has been published in theJournal of Services Marketing and in the proceedings of the American Marketing Association. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.     

This ad’s for you: the indirect effect of advertising perceptions on salesperson effort and performance

Considerable research explores advertising’s role in influencing consumer perceptions and behavior. However, advertising’s impact on another key audience—the sales force—has been largely overlooked. Drawing from social identity and expectancy theories, and using survey and objective performance data across multiple wholesalers, the authors demonstrate that a salesperson’s perception of brand advertising has a significant effect on salesperson effort and performance by positively influencing the extent to which the salesperson identifies with the brand and his or her expectancy that such effort will generate results. These effects are moderated by internal communications and brand size. Model results suggest that advertising’s role may extend beyond “pull” to “push” by motivating salespeople to exert more effort on behalf of a brand. As a result, firms should take steps to proactively manage salesperson perceptions of brand advertising while also considering this dual role when assessing advertising effectiveness and efficiency.     

消费者对乐购超市（大连店）自有品牌认知的实证分析

较于发达国家的消费者而言,我国消费者接触自有品牌的时间较短,对自有品牌了解不足,很难说自有品牌是否引起了中国消费者的广泛注意.此次调研以乐购超市（大连）为调研对象,在前人研究的理论基础上,结合中国消费者的认知,采用问卷调查的方法,并通过Ex-cel2003、SPSS17.0软件对所得调查数据进行频率分析与交叉分析,研究乐购超市自有品牌的认知状况.     

What brand extensions need to fully benefit from their parental heritage

It is well established that consumer acceptance of a brand extension depends on how strongly it fits with its parental origins. Less appreciated is how this acceptance also depends on the mental association created in consumers’ minds between the extension and its parent brand. Our investigation considers the gateway role played by this association’s mental accessibility in allowing extensions to fully benefit from their parental heritage. Six studies examine the effect of reinstating an extension’s association with its parent brand on extension evaluations. When reinstatement enhances the parental association’s accessibility, it strengthens the parent brand’s influence, leading to more or less favorable extension evaluations contingent upon the extension’s fit with its parental origins. These reinstatement effects carry important implications for brand-extension managers and researchers.