Market Segment Response Through Field Experimentation

A key assumption underlying segmentation studies is that marketing efforts have differential effects on market segments. This question was investigated in the context of a field experiment involving enlistment in the armed forces. Approximately 8000 completed questionnaires administered at various stages in the US Navy enlistment recruiting process were collected at two points in time, corresponding to a pre- and post-experimental intervention. Attitudinal data were analysed to identify meaningful segments. Differential responses of market segments to advertising and recruiter changes were found, providing direction for evaluation of, and changes in, the creative component of advertising.     

MARKET REFORM AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN LATIN AMERICA: Evidence from an Error Correction Model

This study models dollar values of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to conditions in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela) during the 1988-1992 period. Although much research on FDI has used time series data to explain inward or outward flows, two things set this study apart. First, this study includes market reforms as independent variables. Second, this study uses newer time series econometric tools (unit root test and cointegration analysis) to correct for a spurious regression. Our model is robust, explaining 79.4 percent of variation. We found three independent variables (size of current account deficit, size of GDP, and value of privatization less FDI in privatized companies) to be significant. Although we found directional support for three other independent variables (degree of capital market liberalization, low inflation rate, and depreciation of the real exchange rate), none of these proved significant.     

Pattern and Determinants of United States' Intra-Industry Trade

This study identifies country and industry-level determinants of intra-industry trade and its components, vertical (VIIT) and horizontal (HIIT) intra-industry trade, in bilateral U.S. trade. Unlike studies for other countries, U.S. intra-industry trade is found to be dominated by HIIT rather than VIIT. This finding is important because HIIT tends to have relatively low factor adjustment costs relative to VIIT. Industry specialization takes place within, rather than across, product lines within the same industry. Two new variables contribute to our understanding of intra-industry trade. Country-level product differentiation and the interaction between technological innovation and foreign direct investment are found to be important determinants of both HIIT and VIIT. Distance, foreign direct investment flows, scale economies, and seller concentration affect HIIT but not VIIT. Other influences exert similar influences on components of intra-industry trade.     

If Time Is Money Is It a Common Currency? Time in Anglo,Asian, and Latin Cultures

ABSTRACT

Social time affects the timing and frequency of purchases, the hours consumers patronize businesses, and how long consumers expect products to last. Understanding how culturally based social time attitudes differ will help marketers tailor their offerings and messages to consumers whose concepts of time differ. This exploratory study combined related streams of time literature to examine constructs of social time differences across cultures. Drawing upon a sample of 1377 respondents from six countries representing three cultural groups (Anglo, Latin, and Asian), the study explores the similarity and differences of cultural social time differences among these three groups.     

Forces exerted by jumping children: a pilot study

Abstract

This article reports on a pilot study of the loads exerted vertically by children when jumping. The subjects of the study were 17 children, aged from two to twelve years. Measurements were made using video recordings and a force-plate. The influence of the stiffness of the base and of jumping with and without shoes was investigated. Knee flexion, push-off force (thrust) and the ratio between push-off force and body weight (relative thrust) were analyzed. Measurements of the knee flexion showed a certain consistency for each child. The angle of knee flexion during push-off follows a bimodal distribution with maxima at 60^° and 90^°. The results for relative thrust suggest a close relationship between push-off force and body weight.     

Understanding the Determinants of User Acceptance of Enterprise Instant Messaging: An Empirical Study

As modern organizations increasingly depend on information systems (IS) to enhance work productivity and seek new business opportunities, communication effectiveness has become one of the key factors that underlie the effective performance of IS implementations and applications. Instant Messaging (IM) presents a revolution in enterprise communication. As more organizations are findings ways to utilize this near-synchronous computing communication technology to enhance communication effectiveness in the workplace, there is a compelling need to understand the factors that are important for the adoption of enterprise IM. We have developed an integrative model based on constructs of the existing IT adoption models as well as theories on motivation, innovation diffusion, and critical mass. Using responses from 140 intended subjects, we have found the results of survey data support the contentions that perceived usefulness, compatibility, enjoyment, and security are significant predictors of intention to use enterprise IM. Although perceived connectivity did not predict the intention directly, it did indirectly through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Designing communication architectures for interorganizational multimedia collaboration

Advances in computer and communication technologies have stimulated the integration of digital video and audio with computing, leading to the development of various computer‐assisted collaborations. In this article, we propose a multilevel conferencing paradigm called super conference for supporting collaborative interactions between geographically separated groups of users, with each group belonging to possibly a different organization. In a super conference, each participant must receive and display the composite media stream obtained by mixing media streams transmitted by all the other participants. Hierarchical communication architectures are naturally suited for media mixing in super conferences. We present algorithms for designing hierarchical mixing architectures that optimize real‐time end‐to‐end delays of media. In order to improve their real‐time performance further, we propose multistage mixing techniques by which mixers can carry out mixing concurrently with communication. Surprisingly, the optimal architectures for multistage mixing are widely different from those of monostage mixing (in which, mixing and media communication sequential as opposed to concurrent). Based on real‐time delay constraints of multimedia, we obtain interesting limits on the sizes of both super conferences and groups within super conferences in optimal hierarchical architectures, which go to show their high scalability in terms of both the maximum number of participants and the geographical separation between them.

At the Multimedia Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, we have implemented a conferencing system on an environment of Sun SPARCstations equipped with digital multimedia hardware. As an interesting application of the conferencing system, we have developed a telepresenter by which users can remotely attend lectures in progress. We present initial experiences with the system.     

Perceptions of facilitators of a keypad‐based group support system

Organizations are using Group Support Systems (GSSs) to improve the quality of group meetings. Keypad‐based GSSs are a widely used form of this technology, yet there has been little research on their use and effects. This paper reports the findings of a survey of facilitators of a particular keypad GSS. Facilitators indicate that keypad technology improves the quality of meetings for a variety of tasks in a range of group settings and cultures. The findings are in general agreement with field studies of workstation‐based systems.     

Country-of-origion effects:an Australian experiment in shelf labelling

The influence of country-of-origin (COO) on consumers' preferences and purchase choices has been extensively discussed in the marketing literature yet most studies dedicated to this issue have relied on durables purchases. Questionnaire-based surveys have most often aimed to identify the degree to which the COO factor influences purchase intentions, but have in general presented this factor in isolation from other product attributes. The present study attempts to address these limitations by relying on ‘real world’ conditions and exploring COO effects for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). For two categories of grocery product, ‘Australian-made’ labels were displayed according to an experimental design over a period of several weeks. No significant effect was found, suggesting that the ‘patriotic’positioning strategy followed by many Australian marketers and retailers is somewhat misguided. These findings also suggest that previous research with durable goods, which supported the existence of COO effects, may not be applicable to the FMCG category where COO effects may be less significant.     

An Integrative Framework of Buyer–Supplier Negative Relationship Quality and Dysfunctional Interfirm Conflict

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Problems of relationship quality and interfirm conflict in business-to-business settings are serious concerns that need to be addressed. Thus, the authors have engaged in an extensive review to promote an understanding of these complex issues. This article develops an integrated framework for analyzing wide-ranging relations between individual representatives and patterns of interfirm incompatibility for managerial control.

Methodology/approach: The review involves numerous sources that include articles and monographs. A theoretical framework is constructed to integrate fragmented empirical data. In particular, social identity and commitment-trust theories are mobilized for this framework.

Findings: The review of studies has a substantial consistency with the theoretical framework. The article outlines a causal chain from interpersonal agent dissimilarities to dysfunctional buyer–supplier relations, culminating in interfirm pathological conflict. Moderating factors in the causal chain are: agent identity differentiation (for interpersonal dissimilarity), supplier relations mismanagement (for buyer–supplier relationship quality), and interfirm opportunism (for interfirm pathological conflict). Buyer–supplier interfirm incompatibility mediates the causal link between interpersonal dissimilarity and buyer–supplier relationship quality. Identity differentiation, the validation of one’s self-image, is introduced as a process that determines buyer–supplier agent interpersonal dissimilarity judgments. This framework uses a contextual perspective. It describes interactions between observations of micro-level phenomena of interpersonal dissimilarities and macro-level models of interfirm fit. From a managerial perspective, interpersonal relations between individual buyer and supplier agents may be further strengthened by such strategies as expanding the scope of the interpersonal relationship, relaxation of role responsibilities, and volunteering business-related contact referrals.

Originality/value: A new theoretical framework has been devised to predict and explain relationship quality and interfirm pathological conflict in the business-to-business context. The framework contributes to the value of the knowledge base by serving as a means for building new diagnostic tools for assessment of interfirm behavioral issues affecting exchanges. New concepts are introduced to enhance current literature on business-to-business marketing. The framework provides concrete

indicators that operationally define ideas and enable or improve measurement for empirical modeling.